Kanye West - Graduation

I know I'm late to this party since this album came out last year, but I've been rocking out to it an awful lot lately.  It makes me want to dance.

Listen to it if you haven't yet.  I've been cruisin around in my car in the nice weather listening to homecoming, flashing lights, and stronger on repeat.

Pirate bar last night

Went to the pirate bar in Silver Spring last night (corner of Georgia and Bonifant).  I'd never been there before but had heard many good things.  As it turns out, we were there from 8pm-1am.  My impressions of the place:

1) Really good food.  Had a cup of shrimp bisque, and a turkey sandwich with a side salad (instead of fries).  All very tasty...especially the salad.  I don't expect much from bars in the ways of veggies, but this was very good.  Sandwich was on homemade bread that was perfect.

2) Good alcohol.  There were four of us (the check noted our customer name as "four girls" LOL) and we split two pitchers of grog, which as it turned out were pitchers of rum, rum, and more rum.  That maybe explains why we only went through 2 pitchers in 5 hours between 4 people.

3) Great outdoor seating.  Perfect night for it too.

4) But...horrible service.  I'm not picky about service, but it was really bad here.  It took a long time to be seated.  Then it took the waiter 45 minutes (no joke) to take our orders.  Food came out quickly, but some of it was missing and it took forever to get that rectified as well.  If you are planning to camp out there anyways and are in no particular hurry, this could be overlooked (we did).  However, if I was trying to get somewhere (movie, etc.) I would have been pissed.

There was also a belly dancer, but I did not think she was anything special.

Also, we broke in the new fish deck of cards.  The old one was getting a bit marked so I bought two new ones: saltwater fish of the world and freshwater fish of the world.  Heresy of heresies though, there are NO TILAPIA!  However there are plenty of other funny names to keep you occupied, and there are plenty of tuna (no dolphins, since they are mammals).

In which my love for Harrah's grows

I'm headed out to Vegas for a week this summer with Keenan and Nelly and can hardly wait.  Eventhough all three of us are on a shorter leash than normal this summer, money-wise, I know we're still gonna have a good time.  All three of us are the kind to make our own party wherever we go.  And since at least two of us are insomniac vampires, Vegas, a true 24/7 city, is teh awesome.

Anyways, a little while back I was pricing out airfare.  We're gonna be in the craziness from June 26-July 1.  But airfare and flight times on the 26th sucked.  A lot.  So I investigated my options.  I could save a boatload of money, leave at a better time, and fly on my preferred airline (which means free upgrades to first class) if I left a day before everyone else.  So guess what I did?  Damn skippy, I booked a flight for the 25th.

But now the dilemma of where to stay that wouldn't wipe out my airline savings?  At first I just contemplated playing in a poker room somewhere until my partners-in-degeneracy arrived.  But that could be a risky strategy given that I'm on a budget and have adopted a new style of bankroll management this summer while I try to actually pay some bills with my pokering monies.  And the fact that I'd have to hang at the casino for a good 24 hours before anyone showed up...maybe even longer until we got our swanky suite at the Palazzo.  Doable, but I'd prefer not to.

I've been looking around and the best I could find anywhere was $130 at MGM (poker room rate, which would mean I would have to play 4 hours there.  Likely not a problem, but...  not the best deal).  Decided to call up Harrah's and give them my number to see if they could hook me up.  And not only did they hook me up, they hooked me up in style.

So on the night of the 25th, I'll be staying at the Rio...at a very discounted rate.  Huzzah! 

Return of FOMF (over the summer)

The GVPTers are a rowdy bunch.  When we play ultimate frisbee, you better watch out - it's serious.  Benli just sent out an email saying FOMF (that's Frisbee on the Mall Fridays) is gonna continue over summer break.  Be there or be square - McKeldin Mall in front of Tydings at 5pm.

Chicken with Cinnamon and Honey

I don't have much of a sweet tooth, preferring things savory.  However, I do like cooking with honey.  When I was in college and trying to learn how to cook, I came up with this recipe, which is actually pretty good.  Haven't made it in quite awhile but I made it tonight and I remembered how much I liked it.

Chop up chicken breasts and fry them in small pieces in frying pan.  When almost cooked through, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Pour in a tablespoon or two of honey and coat chicken with it.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Remove from pan and serve. 

Bonus: your kitchen smells really good after cooking this.

Chocolat

"Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French
countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité - Tranquility. If you
lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You
knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget,
someone would help remind you. In this village, if you saw something
you weren't supposed to see, you learned to look the other way. If
perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask
for more. So through good times and bad, famine and feast, the
villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly
wind blew in from the North...
"

I love this movie (and the book is good too).  It's been on Starz all week (and is ONDemand) and I've been catching bits and pieces of it on the tv while I've had it on in the background doing other stuff.

I don't know if I like this movie so much because it has Johnny Depp in it, or because the town reminds me in some ways of the small, gossipy town I grew up in, or because it's just a good movie with a good script, good acting, and good music.  Either way, this is on my list of feel good movies.

What not to say to women #2:

Guy wearing Indiana Jones-style hat and his friend.  Drinks have been bought and conversation has been good up to this point.

Guy in hat: "So you're gonna go see the new Indiana Jones movie?"
Friend: (before I can answer) "Wait!  My friend here is a huge Indiana Jones fan.  He can even tell you what kind of belt he wore in the movies!"
Guy in hat: "Which movie?"
Friend: "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Guy in hat: "Which belt - his regular belt, or his gun belt?"  Clearly geeking out at this point.  This is the most excited this guy has been in the last 15 minutes.
Friend: "Either.  Both.  I don't care!"
Guy in hat then proceeds to rattle off more details than I knew there could be about a belt.

You know, I don't care if you are a geek about some things.  Heck, I am too.  But it might not be appropriate to jump into nerd-dom within 15 minutes of knowing someone. 

What not to say to women #1:

Several months ago, I commented to a friend that I had not been on the dating scene since before Y2k, having been married for the past six years.

Things are a lot different now, what with technology like social networking sites, text messaging, etc.  Not to mention, the dating scene is a lot different when you are in your late 20's compared to college when you meet a lot of people on a regular basis as a result of being in school.

At any rate, I've been doing a lot of socializing (read: drinking) lately.  I'm taking this week off before I jump into school stuff.  As I mentioned awhile back, it's rather painful to see/hear some of the things guys do/say to girls when trying to pick them up.  How do people get to their 20's and 30's without having any game?  It's not that hard.  I think most women tend to be pretty forgiving if you fuck up a line or two, even thinking it's cute.  But there are some things that are hard to recover from.

Case in point, from last night:

"Nice to meet you.  My name is Remy Martin."

Nunavut is not just a place in Canada

I played two big pots at the Monday game:

1) Second hand of the game: I flopped a set against two pair and top pair, two pair got there on the turn, after one of his outs was already dead.  Boat over boat, and mine is no good.  Immediately the very next hand I get AdAh, assume people will think I'm steaming (because I actually am), raise it and get NO ACTION.  Furthermore, two pair ran his two pair into a set again (not mine) again about 20 mins later and started complaining about it, which made me want to jump up on the table and slap him.

2) I pf raise with 84h in the cutoff (steaming, remember?) but the flop is actually not bad for my hand!  All the money goes in on the flop.  Bottom set of 6's thinks and thinks and thinks, then calls (same player who made a higher boat btw) saying: "I don't know what to do.... she's a solid player.... she's gotta have me beat.  I guess I call."  (Editor's note: I don't actually want this player to learn how to fold a set on a scary board.  I just want my hand to hold up.  I know that is too much to ask though).  I make the straight on the turn and pick up my flush redraw at the same time.  ("Ship the pot to meeeeeeeee," I'm thinking in my head. "Please just don't pair the board.").  There couldn't be a better turn card... but there could be a better river card when a black, board-pairing 6 peels off on the river.  I wince before he even turns his quads over, at which point he starts saying: "Finally!!!  I never get there!"  Uh, Sir, let me refer you to hand number 1 where you had a total of 3 live outs.

Nunavut is not just a place in Canada.  It's also how much of those pots I got.

It's 9:05pm and I'm in the game $400.  Game started at 8.  I could probably rebuy and get back even...maybe even make some profit (this game is EASY) but I'm in no frame of mind to do it.  Fuck it, I'm going to the bar.  See ya all later.

As I'm on my way out the door, one of the regular players who gives me credit for being a tight, good player was overheard saying: "84h??????  Didn't she raise pf?!?!?!?!"  Uh yeah.  To quote Kenny: "It's 2008, bitches." 

Roadtrips, family, etc.

I've mentioned that I'm thinking about road tripping out to the west coast this summer to see some friends out there and on the way.  Road trips have always been a big part of my life, especially in the summers. 

E.g.: 

• reminiscing about some of the road trips of my youth


• a roadtrip I took up to MA for my friend John's wedding
  


• a research roadtrip I took around the state of Illinois a few years ago


• brainstorming for a roadtrip that never happened


• and the description of what we did instead: driving from LA to Vegas and back


• several roadtrips undertaken before I had a blog (or a car for that matter), including an unauthorized one to West Palm Beach, FL (lots of good stories came out of that one)

At any rate, it's pretty obvious I like to drive.  It clears my head.  And I could use some head clearing.

So I've been thinking about what route I would take, how many days I can realistically be on the road, etc, etc. and was reminded of my uncle's website detailing his year-long roadtrip all around the US, New Zealand, and Australia (if you ever get bored, definitely check his website out...lots of interesting stories).  Can you tell road tripping and wanderlust runs in my family?

And while checking out his website, I came across this memorial to my paternal grandpa (scroll down to where it says "Donald
J. Leu  (1923 - 2002)" and read on).  Figured I'd link to it in honor of Memorial Day (no, my grandpa didn't die in combat, but he was a veteran, and he's now dead). This is my grandpa who instilled a love of cards in me, as there was not much else to do on his boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean besides read, play cards, and stare at the sea.

Recount

I got rid of HBO when Sex and the City went off the air.  But since HBO has come out with things like John Adams and Recount, I'm glad I subscribed again.

Recount is a great movie (how can you not love Kevin Spacey?).  It will be on tonight at 9pm and is also  ONDemand - where I just watched it.  Brings back lots of memories of that crazy time.  I still remember sitting dejectedly on the bench outside of Monroe Hall after watching the returns in the Marvin Center with Ben saying: "You guys had your 8 years...it's our turn now..."  Good times (or not, LOL). 

Happy half birthday to me...

Today's my un-birthday... aka my half birthday.  Six more months and I'm 30.

Playing some non-freerolls online again

I've been trying to improve my tournament game recently.  Not really sure why - just that I enjoy playing them from time to time.  I've been doing pretty well at the SHOP tourneys (second in POY points for the year right now) and I've been doing decently in the freerolls I've been playing.

So I decided to play a few tourneys today...starting out with the Early Double tourneys on FT. 

Just busted out of tourney A when I pf reraised a relatively aggressive player at my table w 99.  Flop comes 856, two diamonds.  I move all in.  Villain (who happens to be a poker blogger) decides to call both my pf raise and my AI on the flop with KQo.  K on the turn.  See the details at pokerhand.

Meanwhile, been doing pretty good at tourney B...though just lost a few chips when I ran KK into AA.

Making this on the grill tomorrow for Memorial Day

Maple/Bourbon marinated salmon

Ingredients:
8 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (1-inch thick) preferably with skin on
Cooking spray (for broiler/barbecue rack)
1 cup maple syrup or brown sugar, packed
6 tablespoons (1/3 cup) bourbon
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 lime)
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1. To marinate: Combine maple syrup, bourbon, soy sauce, lime juice,
ginger, pepper, and garlic in a large zip-lock plastic bag. Add salmon
fillets, seal bag, and marinate in fridge for 30 minutes, turning the
bag once. Remove fillets from bag and set aside the marinade. Do not
marinate for longer than 30  minutes.

2. Preheat barbecue, broiler, or oven to 400°F.

3. To barbecue or broil: Place fillets skin side down on broiler pan
coated with cooking spray. Broil 11 minutes or until fish flakes easily
when tested with a fork.

4. To roast: Line a baking dish with tin foil or parchment paper.
Place fish skin side down in center of oven and bake for 20 minutes or
so, until fish flakes easily.

5. In the meantime: bring the rest of the marinade to a boil in a
small saucepan on medium high heat on top of stove. Reduce to a little
more than half. Allow to simmer while fish is cooking. Use to baste
fish and serve as sauce.

If this is my toughest decision...

A few days ago I was the rather unworthy recipient of a gift for successfully finishing another year in school: a large Amazon.com gift certificate, that as the giver said: "is enough to buy a Xbox 360/PS3 with all the trimmings...or a hell of a lot of books."

I'm definitely not gonna use it to buy a lot of books.

I am however really torn between Xbox and PS.  I have actually always been a Nintendo person, but I do currently have a PS2 as well.  Gaming-wise, I'm leaning towards the Xbox...but it hasn't escaped my attention that the PS3 has a Blu-Ray player.....  decisions, decisions.

Back in the old days when I was working and getting my MA I would use summer and winter breaks from school to veg on the couch every day after work and play video games all night.  I used to play a lot.  These days I haven't been able to get good at many games because I'm too busy...even when I am on breaks from school it seems like I have a bunch of other stuff going on.  But I would like to at least try GTA: IV...love the GTA games.

In lieu of anything better to do...

and the fact that Harrahs loves me and wants to give me free stuff, I've booked another couple of free nights if anyone is interested in going up with me.  June 10-12.

I think Ricky and I might go up this week after the Monday game too.

Students and grade inflation

Finished my grading yesterday and was wondering if I was too easy on my kids.  I didn't give out a single C, though I did give out a few grades lower than that.  Everyone else got an A or a B... and yet today I have had more than a few email exchanges with people unhappy with their grades.

Last semester I had a much more normally distributed range and did not get a single complaint.  ???

I dunno, maybe it is a good thing kids care about their grades, but I don't think I ever once complained about a grade I got in college...certainly not one in the A or B range.

Vanity plates

Just got notice that my registration needs to be renewed on my car.  You can do it online these days, so I went to do it and they give you the option of getting a vanity plate at the same time.  I have always wanted one and it's not that expensive, so I figured I'd go for it.

I've always planned on getting 28IF (Beatles/VW reference, explained here), but as I was filling out the form I started wondering if maybe there wasn't something better.

Ideas welcomed.

AC update

So, my trip could have been better, but also could have been worse, for sure.  Especially considering I was pretty stuck in my first four hours at the felt due to a series of unfortunate beats (at the Borgata).

After going back to Harrah's, grabbing dinner, and noticing their poker room was packed (they had several 2/5s, a 5/10, and waitlists for everything...every table in the room was full and they were spreading NL on their stud tables) because of a 200k bad beat, I decided to grab a seat over there.  Where I promptly made my money back, and then some.  Hooray!

I also ended up sitting next to this guy (Omar) who knew a friend of a friend in college.  We started talking, and ended up exchanging numbers cause he plays an apparently very good game on Sundays and Wednesdays downtown.  He said it's one of those games where the local business owners and college kids with too much money throw it around without having any idea what they are doing.  OK, I'm definitely down for that.

Anyways, our table got real short around 6am at which point I went to bed in my fabulous upgraded waterfront room.  I love Harrahs.  They like giving me free stuff (got the room for free) and when I checked in they were like: "we'd like to upgrade you to the new Waterfront Tower."  Hellz yeah.

These rooms are really nice.  Fairly large, have a fridge and a giant flat screen tv mounted on the wall, really nice bathroom with the best hotel shower I've ever seen, and, not that it matters that much, but I liked the colors the room was done in.  Only downside is that the rooms are right near the pool and thus, somewhat of a hike from the poker room.  BUT, I don't really like playing at Harrah's that much anyways and the rooms are the closest to the front where the valet and taxis are, so...

The next day I got a late start.  Went downstairs to try to get in on some of the jackpot action.  Ended up making some money at my table by the time the jackpot hit around 5:30pm (quad nines vs. nine high sf).  As soon as the jackpot hit, it was a mass exodus from the room.  Five full tables literally broke around us.  People were offering to split cabs to the 'gata.  It was crazy.

So I end up over at the Borgata and double up fast thanks to some guy trying to play push around the girl when i had KK on a non-scary board.  However, an hour before Jon and Sarah were supposed to meet me for dinner, I end up flopping top set vs. this guy's straight.  I should have probably just folded...he was playing really conservatively post flop.  If I had folded after all the raising when I was like: do you really have 79? (there had been a $15 pf raise and he was out of position) and not called his all in, I could have saved myself $150...  and $150 is $150.  But I didn't and ended up leaving that table even....  sucked.

At this point in the trip, I am up for the trip even after expenses (some tax on the room, internet, gas and tolls...I ate for free the whole week off of comps).  Wish I could have hung on to some more of that profit though...... 

Sarah and Jon and I ended up at the Borgata buffet.  I'd never been there before, but I would recommend it for sure.  Very good.  They wanted to see my room, so then we went back to Harrah's.  Jon loves roulette, so he beelined over there and Sarah and I just hung out for awhile.  I ended up getting a text from Omar asking me about the action over at Harrah's and I had to inform him that the jackpot had already been hit...  but that got me thinking that I wanted to get back to playing poker to try to make some $$$.

And thus started a horrible session.  I ended up at a table with 6 horrible (and I mean really HORRIBLE) players who were running like Hiatt against me over and over again.  Oh look I have AA.  Middle pair calls my giant bets the whole way only to spike a board pairing middle pair on the river.  When I say "Middle pair, really???" and muck she tells me that the $600 she has in front of her is only the smallest of dents in her losses.  "I believe it," I think.  Similar things happened with two pair versus two pair, etc., etc.  To make a long story short, I ended up leaving this table stuck $400.  Which is not really that bad except these players were horrible and it made me angry that I couldn't relieve them of their money.  This guy was also trying really hard to pick me up, which I found amusing since I was completely scrubbed out, having not packed many of my toiletries or more than a change of clothes.  He was cute, but sorry, I'm not gonna go back to some random guy I don't know's apartment in AC.  I'm stupid sometimes, but not that stupid.

I almost went and dumped some money on bj or roulette after this session, but managed to steer myself away from the pits. 

After sleeping in as much as I could (since I had to check out), I got my car out of valet and drove over to the Borgata for one last session.  Strangely enough, I ended up being seated at Omar's table and after 5 hours or so I had made back some of the money I had lost the night before and ended up even for the trip after expenses (which for this trip were small).

On the drive home, all I could think of though, was how I would be up a ton if not for that last session at Harrahs.  Boo. 

Have another couple of free rooms in June, so I'll be going up again at some point to take a shot at making some more money.  Also, I realized I have not been to Foxwoods in six months...gotta get up there at some point soon.

Advice column for my male friends

After the past couple days, raging solo (to steal a phrase from Pauly) in AC and now hanging out in DC, I have enough material to write the male equivalent of "He's just not that into you."  Seriously, understanding women may seem hard, but it's not.  I know that I am not alone in this because after a night out, two females and one guy dissected the situation and we came up with the exact same conclusions...so there must be something there.

Any of my guy friends want some words of wisdom, please let me know...because apparently there are a lot of guys out there who need it.

This has been a public service announcement for all my single guy friends out there who are trying to pick chicks up.

Poker Gods...I think we need to have a talk.

Since I started tracking my play I've been forced to closely examine some of the holes in my game.  And I know I've been playing better (in terms of NL, anyways...lets pretend that I can decide to never play pink again).  February, March, and April were good months for me at the NL tables (and actually at the non-pink limit tables too).

But since I went to MARGE I've just been running godawful.  I try to be honest with myself about my quality of play on any given hand.  I always analyze the big pots I lost to try to figure out if there was anything I could have done any better.  Did I bet enough to get out his draw?  Did I manage the pot size well?  Did I get myself into trouble by playing a trashy hand pf and not being able to fold when I didn't hit the flop hard enough?  Have I been adjusting to changing game conditions?  Honestly, I tilt the most when I conclude that I am playing bad (which of course is a double whammy and stupid).  Again, with the exception of pink, my tilt has been largely under control these past months, even with running so bad now because for the most part (with a few notable exceptions mostly in Pops' basement) I have concluded that I've been playing well.  I've been really good about sticking to my new NL game plan.

Down in Biloxi I got so sick of running bad that I decided to play more table games than I normally do.  Probably Definitely not a good idea.  Even with running bad at poker, I would have been even for the trip (minus expenses) if I hadn't played so much blackjack thanks to being able to pick up some smallish pots here and there and the fact that I made some money back the last session I played.

So when I drove up to AC today I was feeling good.  Yeah I've been running bad, but I don't think I've misplayed any of the big pots I've lost since last Monday (that qualifier needs to be in there because I played one particular hand at Pops' on Saturday HORRIBLY...didn't bet enough on the flop and still called when I knew I was beat - WTF was I thinking on that hand???).  They've just been unfortunate.  And I've been able to fold my mediocre hands (like one pair) easily when I think I am beat (and I'm almost always right which is always a good feeling).  I've been able to pick some good spots to float/steal based on the board and the other player.  So I told myself I was gonna come here, NOT play any table games, and just play good solid poker.  It was gonna be good.

So what happens when you play good solid poker and you get ass-raped repeatedly by bad luck?  I did NOT play table games at Borgata like I wanted to.  I CAN make money at poker.  I just gotta keep playing good and eventually my luck will turn around....right?  Last week at the Monday game I lost a bunch due to unfortunateness and ended up making $160 profit by the end of the night because I didn't let myself start playing bad*.  I CAN do it. 

But it would be really nice if the poker gods could also cut me some slack.  Poker gods, you have made your point.  I've gotten better about controlling my tilt (again, take pink out of the equation) when I am running bad.  I'm playing a lot more consistently well in 2008.  So what gives?

*there was one hand that night that was questionable...but upon further deliberation with the recipient of that beat (who happens to be a math major, LOL), we decided that I actually was not -EV that hand, just that it was basically a wash as far as EV goes.

Summer goals

You will frequently hear people in grad school tell you they wish they had a 40 hour/week 9-5er.  This is, of course, not only because we would be making more than $588/biweekly, but also because in grad school it is impossible to leave work at work.  That's why they tell you that you won't finish unless you have a passion for what it is you are studying cause at some point you are gonna hate it and be sick of it.

Summers are me time.  Of course me time also includes doing stuff for school that I don't get any credit for, like working on polishing papers for publication and the like.  However, I do also get some time to kick my heels up and RELAX...something I'm pretty much incapable of the rest of the year for more than a few hours at a time.  As soon as I handed in my last paper today I jumped in the car and drove to AC, do not pass go; hopefully collect more than $200.

At any rate here is my list of things to do over the summer.  I'm posting it here to keep myself honest.

School stuff:
1) work on some papers to try to get them publishable or at least presentable at a conference.
2) study for comps
3) finish paper for class I have an incomplete in
4) firm up dissertation idea
5) prep for class I'm teaching in the Fall

Me stuff:
1) Get healthy(ier).  This entails actually going to the gym on a set schedule, not eating fast food, and getting more regular sleep.  Should help with stress reduction too.
2) Get out of the house and go places.  Thinking of going at least to the Rock and Roll hall of fame in Cleveland since I've always wanted to go.  This also entails me going out with Melissa like we discussed at dinner on Sunday night.  :)
3) Read a book/week...or at least a couple/month.
4) Get myself ramped up for Fall semester...my last semester of FT course work before I really need to start being a "real" grad student and thinking about an exit strategy (doing my dissertation and all that fun stuff).  LOL

I dunno, I think most of those are doable goals.  We'll see how I did at the end of the Summer.

Of potential interest to DC-area degens

Snagged from DC-ist:

D.C. Area Struck by Counterfeit Bills: The Examiner reports
on a warning from the U.S. Secret Service that the D.C. metro area is
being plagued by counterfeit $100 bills. Many different individuals who
appear not to be working together have been arrested in the region for
using a bleaching technique to turn $5 bills into $100. Since they are
printed on real currency paper and still contain security strips, the
only way to tell if you have a fake $100 bill is to hold it up to the
light and check for an old Abraham Lincoln next to a reprinted Benjamin
Franklin that do not match up.

A brief love letter to country music

Time was in high school that I turned my nose up at country.  I was part of the nerd crowd and also part of the way too cool for school musical theatre crowd.  None of those people would listen to country.  Country was reserved for the farm kids who weren't trying to fit in with the coolsters.  Country was not cool.

But I expanded my musical horizons when I got to college and discovered that classic country was actually really good music.  It was a lot like the folk that I listened to in high school. I still remember the one Christmas I came home from college and my uncle had bought me a Johnny Cash album I had on my wishlist.  As I opened it excitedly and immediately threw it in the cd player, my mom looked at me somewhat confusedly and said: "I didn't even know you liked Johnny Cash."

I've been listening to a lot of country music all week.  Not the achey-breaky-heart-my-wife-left-me-my-truck-broke- I-shipped-my-last-dollar-on-a-poker-game-oh-what- am-i-gonna-dooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crap (though hey - maybe I could write one of those songs about my life recently).  No, I'm talking about
the good stuff: Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, the Statler Brothers, with some Hem, Wood Brothers, and Neko Case (not exactly country, but close enough on the songs I'm talking about) thrown in for good measure. 

That's some good stuff.  It's no mistake that a large portion of my poker playlist on my iPod is country music. 

Mea culpa, country music.  Sorry I snubbed you when I was younger and didn't know any better. 

The month of May, in which math makes me mad

One of the bad things about keeping records is you can see just how bad you run.  Even I am sick of my own bad beat stories, so they will not be recounted here, don't worry. 

Just for kicks I started keeping track of the number of six outs or less hands that were getting there against me starting when I was in Biloxi earlier this month.  (I had to do something to keep myself amused).  I've been keeping track of that number in any given session of NLHE since then.  This obviously assumes the hand goes to showdown. 

Anyways, suffice it to say that I am running BAD in May.  What do you think the number of times that six outs or less gets there should be in approximately 44 hours of play (assuming about 20 hands/hour, so about 880 hands)?  I'm just guessing here, but it probably shouldn't be >20 times (especially considering this is six outs or LESS , not just six out hands).  As of tonight in ~880 hands in the month of May I've run into the bad end of six outs or less 23 times. 

I've been working on my aggression and I think I've been playing fairly aggressively, so it's not like I'm usually giving people the odds to call with these kinds of hands.  Furthermore, a large percentage of these hours are played with people among whom I have a tight table image, so how is this happening?!?  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

For some dumb reason I'm going to AC tomorrow morning.   I really hope this stuff stops soon 'cause I can't take it any more.   

So Close!!! More WSOP freerolls

As I've mentioned several times, I've been playing the weekly WSOP freerolls on PokerStars.  I already have one ticket to a satellite to the ME (haven't played it yet - they're on Saturdays and I've been busy most Saturdays since I won the ticket).

This time I wasn't running white hot like the time I got the ticket.  Instead I was running averagely and playing good (not that I didn't play good the other time, but the hands kinda played themselves).  Playing aggressively and winning a few races while losing some others.  I ended up running pretty dead in the last level I played though (always a problem in a turbo when you're already up to 8000/16000 with a 1600 ante) and lost when I had to push with Q6o.  Ended up going out in 58 place out of 3043.  Top 50 get a ticket.

BOOOOOOOO!

Miss Potter

I don't know how I missed this movie.  I guess it was only in limited release in the US (2006), but I always liked the Beatrix Potter books, having grown up with them.  Plus it has Emily Watson, Renee Zellweger, and Ewan McGregor, all of whom I really like, in it. 

This is a movie in the style of the Jane Austen movie that recently came out (which was only OK, I thought); the autobiography (with liberties) of Beatrix Potter.  She seems kind of nutty in the story, but it is a good story if you like the Beatrix Potter books.

Melissa and I met for dinner and to study for our relpol exam tonight and walking through campus at twilight there were rabbits everywhere which made me smile and think of Peter. 

It's on Showtime right now and available OnDemand through them (at least on FIOS) if you want to check it out.

Holy Moly...lots of FM-ers in DC

Was just on facebook looking through friends from high school (when really I should be studying for my take home exam tomorrow).  As one might expect from a school in New York State that has a really strong music/musical theatre program, lots of people ended up in NYC.  But there are a fair number of us in the DC area too.

I'm always surprised at the people that read this thing, so if you are in the DC area and I went to school with you, drop me a line or send me a friend request on facebook.  Let's get a beer or something.  I'm probably never gonna make it to a reunion since my parents don't live in Manlius anymore, though Sarah and I were talking about heading up to Syracuse at some point this summer.

End of semester wrap up

Students' finals are taken and in my car trunk, partially graded.  All papers are finished (well except for the one that I have to have done by July to get rid of my incomplete from last semester).  Basically the semester is over.

Tuesday I'm headed up to AC.  I'm also gonna do some grading while I am up there and try to get all my students' grades submitted.

Then after that who knows.  We gotta study for comps in August.  I gotta write that paper by July (should take me a few days once I sit down and do it).  I want to clean up some of my existing papers and try to submit them for publication or conference presentation.

What to do the rest of the summer?  First, I need to do some life recalibration.  For the past 7 months I've been putting me on the back burner while I try to get through school.  I've been largely unhappy the past year and I need to sit back and evaluate my life, who I am, where I am going, what I want, get rid of some unhealthy habits...  all that good stuff.  And what better time to do it than the year I turn 30?

Been thinking about maybe taking a few weeks off to roadtrip.  I'm supposed to go out with the degens to Vegas at the end of June and I've been thinking that instead I might just end up driving out there, stopping at a few friends' houses along the way, and swinging through San Francisco on the way home.  It will depend on what our schedule is like for comp studying.  I definitely feel like some kind of solo trip is in order this summer to help me with the goals listed in the previous paragraph.  When and where it will be is up in the air, but in my experience, solo roadtrips are the best way to spend a lot of time with yourself.  Sitting at home, I am always distracted by television, the internet, friends, etc.  But on the road, just you and your car, you can't get away from yourself so easily.

Excuse me while I kiss this guy...

My family likes to play games.  Board games, card games, doesn't matter what type.  We are a rather competitive bunch.

My mom, my sister, and I always play Scene It when we are all together, since we are all movie-philes (I think Dad would rather shoot himself in the eye).  Last year when we were in the middle of a hotly contested match I had to read someone a question from the cards.

"In this biopic featuring..."

I couldn't get the word "featuring" out before my Mom and my sister were hysterically laughing.

"What!???"  I demanded.

They were so out of breath they couldn't answer.

Apparantly, I had made it through 28 years of my life thinking biopic was pronounced to rhyme with myopic or bionic.  Buy-AWE-pic.  Actually, and this probably makes a lot more sense, it's Buyoh-pic.  Like what it is short for: biographical picture.  However, if you google this word, you can see that I am not alone in my mispronunciation.

So what are some words that you mispronounce or have misheard?  (Yes, Keenan, I know that you mispronounce "regularly."  Refer to 15 min conversation on the way home from AC).  And no, I never thought Jimi was talking about kissing some guy.

You know it's going to be a good day when

You log into your bank account for the first time in almost a month and you are pleasantly surprised by the money that's there.

Not that it's mine for long.  I logged on to pay bills after all.  But still.

On the merits of going mobile...

I've been thinking about getting a 3g iphone when it comes out this summer.  I almost certainly will.

Which raises the question: should I get rid of my land line?

Pros:
1) It's cheaper (though only by like $40 or so per month)
2) The only people who ever call my house anymore are telemarketers, people I have a business relationship with, and on occasion, my parents.  I can talk to my parents on my cell or online.
3) Cell or land line, I don't spend all that much time actually talking on the phone anyways.  I'm more likely to communicate by text, AIM, or e-mail.  The only people that I spend any serious time on the phone with are my parents.
4) I never answer my home phone anymore (which led me to realize that I must change my answering machine message more than 5 months after Jeff moved out) because it is always a telemarketer or some collection agency calling for Sharon someone who must have used this phone number at some point.

Cons:
1) What am I going to do with all those nice phones I have?
2) Previously mentioned business calls...it's gonna be a pain to have to make sure everyone important has my cell number, and I like the fact that I don't get telemarketing calls on my cell right now.  I don't have to screen my cell calls; I know everyone calling me.
3) There are a few areas of my house that get not so great reception on my cell. 

So what say those of you who actually have done this and have no land line?  Is it a good move or a bad one?

The Anti-Whinge

So it is a truism that you remember the beats you take but not the hands you win with (unless they are monster pots).  At E and Ricky's I was not running well at all the first half of the game(as opposed to Pops' where one buy in I ran bad and another two buy ins I ran bad and played bad), but actually playing pretty well.  A couple of the hands I lost I could tell that if the cards came the other way, I would have been paid because no one was putting me on the hands I had.  I could still tell you the exact action on the three big hands I lost.  But who wants to read beat stories???

After deciding to just throw down the gauntlet since I was stuck on a hand with Anne where my 12-outs sucked out, the one hand of the night that put me over the top on getting even was a fortuitous: "Wow my hand somehow held up!" situation.

I get KK in the small blind.  A bunch of limpers, and I raise to $12 pf.  We are 7 handed and I get called in three spots.  I have about $450 in front.  The only other person with more than me is Barry who has me covered by a lot (and is not in this hand).  Everyone else has between $100-$250 or so in front.

Dealer puts the flop out and I get momentarily excited when I see the door card of the flop is another K.  I'm mentally celebrating when I notice the other two cards: QJ, rainbow.  Aw, fuck.

So I'm first to act and I bet just under pot.  Then the 8 seat moves all in for about a min-raise.  He is not a good player, probably doesn't pay good enough attention to the fact that I raised from out of position and also probably does not have my raising range in any position well-defined anyways.  He is short and will happily get his money in on a draw here.  Heck, I've seen him get his money in short with top pair on boards like this.  I don't think he has AT.  I'm pretty sure I'm ahead of him, for the moment anyways.

10 seat mucks.  Then, the player in the 2 seat who is on the button moves all in for about $200 total.  Now that is problematic.  This player not only knows me and my raising range (he has seen me fold AT in early position), he is also probably paying attention to position.  On the button he could easily have AT.  He probably doesn't have an under set because he would have raised pf.  Other than the nuts, he could very easily have a T or an A for a draw, or something like KQ, KJ, or QJ (especially if he put me on AA pf, and thinks his two pair is ahead).  I decide that I will pay him off if he has the nuts since I can boat and because his range of other hands here is big enough that it seems likely I could actually be ahead.

Fortunately, the board does not come scary on the turn or the river and I take down the pot with my unimproved set.  8 seat showed JT for a pair and a oesd that did not get there.  10 seat did not show his hand, but judging from the way he said: "Do you really have a set???" after I called his all in, he must've had two pair and put me on AA.  He could have also had a pair and a draw, but I don't know that he'd move all in with just that there.

That hand put me at just a little over even and then in the next couple hours I managed to grind out $160 in profit.  I'll take it.  Couldn't tell you the hands I had that took down the few average sized pots that got me to that $160 though.

Endless entertainment: Google AdSense

If you have gmail or use other google products, you might have noticed that there are ads at the top of the page that are supposed to be relevant to things you are looking at and therefore, supposedly interested in.

But sometimes adsense goes horribly wrong.  Exempla gratia: I just opened an email from Borders telling me about a cd sale they were having.  I think they used the passe word "jams" to describe the music you could buy at a discount.

Next thing I know, this link is at the top of gmail.  Uh, no thanks.

John Adams

Last night around 3:30am, I had been working on my paper for several hours and my brain was starting to hurt.  One might think that the statistical analysis of a paper would take the longest out of all other sections, but in fact because I am using a dataset I am already very familiar with, plugging some data into STATA, running some models, and interpreting the results took very little time.  Instead what I have been struggling with is writing the front end of the paper: the justification for why this is an important problem, the theory behind my models, and weaving together the rather disjointed literature on religion and attitudes on foreign policy (I'm looking at evangelicals' attitudes towards Iraq in the 2006 elections).

At any rate, around 3:30, I was sorely in need of a break.  I couldn't find anything interesting on TV or On Demand.  But after spending the previous part of the day reviewing with my students' for their 170 final (large parts of which focus on the federalist papers, federalism, and the design of the Constitution), I was tempted to subscribe to HBO and finally watch the John Adams miniseries that I have heard so many good things about.  So I did.

I've only watched the first two episodes (after all I still have papers to write!) but they are really good.  I feel like I am the last person on earth to watch this miniseries, but if in fact you have not watched it yet, you may want to.  Not entirely certain how I feel about Paul Giamatti in this role (I really like him as an actor, but I have trouble not looking at him as Paul Giamatti).  Laura Linney, otoh, is perfect as one of my personal heroes, Abigail Adams. 

Centennial

Once a long time ago (actually, this summer will be exactly 20 years), we spent a summer, as always, on my grandparents' boat.  We ended up taking a week or so off the boat to spend time on the Queen Charlotte Islands, where my sister and I got to ride Haflingers every day on a ranch.

Later we ended up heading home only to be recalled by the Canadian Coast Guard due to a large storm.  My grandpa told them that he'd rather take his chances on the open sea since having his boat at the marina would potentially mean damage to the boat from banging against the dock.  So we rode out a storm with gale force winds on the open ocean in my grandparents' 40 foot sailboat.  To date, that is the only time in my life I have been seasick (though I have been in other storms on the ocean).

Anyways, my mom and my sister and I were in the forward V berth, rolling around from the storm.  If you have never been seasick, I promise you there is no worse feeling in the world.  It is significantly worse than being normally sick.  You want to die.  In order to try to make us all feel better, my Mom started to tell us the story of a bock she had been reading during the trip: Centennial, by James Michener, a lengthy work of historical fiction about the history of Colorado.  Thus started my life-long obsession with historical fiction and Michener; Centennial is still one of my favorite books.

A mini-series was made of the stories and it is traditional for us to watch it over Thanksgiving or Christmas and several inside family jokes originate from this mini-series.  Just got an email from my mom that it is finally on DVD (I have it on VHS).  Watch it if you like historical fiction - it's one of the best historical sagas out there. 

Important Statistical Information

My friend from school Steve just sent me this hilarious email.  Warning: nerd jokes ahead.

Here are some graphical presentations that will no doubt come in handy in our future careers teaching undergrads.

Steve

 

Book Reviews

I've recently had some time to read non-political science stuff (rejoice!).  Over the summer I am going to hold myself to the one book/week rule; that is, I am going to read one book a week, come hell or high water.  So if you have some recommendations of good books (fiction or non-fiction) - I'd like to hear them.  The next books on my list to read are:

Ori and Rom Brafman - Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
John Vaillant - The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed (been wanting to read this forever since I actually saw the Golden Spruce before it was vandalized)
Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials Trilogy (I "read" The Golden Compass as an audiobook on my iPod when I was out in Vegas for New Year's and would like to finish the rest of the trilogy)
 
Anyways, the four books I have read in the past few weeks are:

Tucker Max - I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
If you have an off-color sense of humor, I highly recommend this book.  And I don't just mean a little off color...I mean that I can pretty much guarantee that no matter who you are you will be offended by something in this book.  However, it is hilariously funny.  It is rare that a book makes me literally laugh out loud and this book had me cracking up in several spots.  Definite recommend if your mind is in the gutter like mine.

Bill Chen and Jarrod Ankenman - The Mathematics of Poker
This is a book that needed to be written.  I could not agree more with Chris Ferguson in his intro when he says that he has always told people that there are good game theory books and good poker books, but no good books on how the two relate.  This is that book.  I have only thoroughly read about 100 pages and skimmed through the rest, but this book is definitely recommended to anyone who wants to think about poker on a deeper level.  It's not really a strategy book, but more a way to change the way you think about the game.  It was helpful for me because it laid out some basic stats principles and game theory principles that I knew but was having difficulty thinking about how to apply them to poker.  I really like this book a lot, but I know probably the majority of people I know who like poker won't like this book.  Don't pick it up if you don't like math or strategy board games.  Otoh, if you like math, Chess, Diplomacy, or Scotland Yard (or any kind of strategy game) and you play poker, do yourself a favor and buy it.

Steve Berry - The Venetian Betrayal
I have read every single one of Steve Berry's books.  He was my Dan Brown replacement after I read all of Dan Brown's books (The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress, etc.).  This book came out right before Christmas and I was really excited to see that Santa had put it under the tree for me.  However, I have to say I just don't like this book as much as some of his others.  It's not bad, but it just hasn't grabbed me the same way his other books did.  I could literally not put The Amber Room down once I started reading it and finished it in a day.  I had similar experiences with The Romanov Prophecy, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, and The Alexandria Link.  This book is certainly not bad, it just didn't grab me like the others.  It has all your favorite characters though (Cotton Malone, Cassiopeia Vitt, Henrik Thorvaldsen, Stephanie Nelle, etc.)  He's scheduled to come out with another one next December, so it will be interesting to see if that one is any better.  I don't think anyone has ever said that Steve Berry is an excellent writer, but he usually knows how to write a thriller (just like Dan Brown).  Alas, this book was just not that thrilling.  Maybe because they have already been developed in the other books, but I felt the characters were all pretty two dimensional as well. 

This book really had me wishing that Neal Stephenson would come out with another book already as I ripped through both Cryptonomicon, and all of the Baroque Cycle books (a combined ~4000 pages of novel) in the Summer of 2005  (when I was traveling for work nearly every week and therefore desperate for entertainment) like a junkie who needs to score another hit.  Since reading those books, I haven't found anything that comes even close to the genius of these books.  If you haven't read them, do yourself a favor and immediately proceed to your nearest bookstore.  Come to think of it, maybe I will re-read them.  They are some of the best (if not the best) fiction I have ever read.

James McManus - Positively 5th Street
A poker book that is non-fiction but not strategy and certainly not boring.  McManus is sent to Vegas to cover a murder trial and ends up playing in the WSOP Main Event.  I would recommend this book to anyone, not just people who know something about poker.  It is very well-written, entertaining, and he does a good job of explaining the poker world to people who don't know that much about it.  A movie is in the works.

Updated Fall 2008 schedule

Now that I've been assigned my TA-ship for the Fall, I have a better idea of my schedule.  Though I haven't technically changed my registration yet, I think I'm going to drop the Factor Analysis class I'm currently registered for and take another survey methods class instead.  It will probably be more useful to me in terms of my research and also that way I can make the case for more survey methods stuff on my quantitative methods second field comprehensive exam (which will make me stress less about it - especially if I end up taking it in January).

As you can see, sadly I do not have a very stacked schedule like I do this semester.  Only one true day off, though Monday and Wednesday only have 50 minute lectures for the class I am TA-ing.  I tend to be lazy on my day off and not get up til afternoon.  The fact that I will have to be up and on campus by 11 on Mondays and Wednesdays will force me to be productive, which is good.  I can sleep in on Thursdays.

Monday:

• 11-11:50am GVPT 475 (lecture for class I am TAing) - The Presidency and the Executive Branch: Prerequisite: GVPT170 and GVPT241. Junior standing. For GVPT majors
  only.
  
  An examination of the U.S. presidency in historical and contemporary
  perspective: nomination and electoral politics and the president's
  place in policy-making, administration, and public opinion.
  
  
  
  

Tuesday:

• 1:00-3:00pm office hours for GVPT 475 (this is determined by me, but right now this is probably the best place to put this).

• 3:00-5:40pm SURV 632 - Social and Cognitive Foundations of Survey Measurement:
  Major sources of survey error-such as reporting errors and nonresponse
  bias-from the perspective of social and cognitive psychology and
  related disciplines. Topics: psychology of memory and its bearing on
  classical survey issues (e.g., underreporting and telescoping); models
  of language use and their implications for the interpretation and
  misinterpretation of survey questions; and studies of attitudes,
  attitude change, and their possible application to increasing response
  rates and improving the measurement of opinions. Theories and findings
  from the social and behavioral sciences will be explored.   

• 6:30-9:30pm GVPT 743 - Contemporary political theory:
  Theorists from Nietzsche (1884-1900) to the present will be covered
  with a focus on the apparent failure of the Enlightenment to usher in
  an age of peace and reason.
   
  
   

Wednesday:

• 11-11:50am GVPT 475 (lecture for class I am TAing)

Thursday:

• nothing 

Friday:

• 10-12:50pm GVPT 475 discussion sections

• 1-4pm SURV630 -
  Questionnaire Design:  The stages of questionnaire design; developmental interviewing,
  question writing, question evaluation, pretesting, and questionnaire
  ordering and formatting. Reviews of the literature on questionnaire
  construction, the experimental literature on question effects, and
  the psychological literature on information processing. Examination of
  the diverse challenges posed by self versus proxy reporting and special
  attention is paid to the relationship between mode of administration and
  questionnaire design.

That's news to me

A few years ago, I researched and coauthored a report on state Medicaid plans (read it online here if you are so inclined).  Today I got an email from someone I used to work with asking me some questions about it that started with this:

"Dear Caity:

How are you?  I understand that you are returning to Abt.  Congratulations!"

I am?  That's news to me!

Some political humour

Hat tip to Melissa.

SNL 2008 Fringe Candidates Debate | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Beau Rivage review

The Beau poker room is really nice.  It's certainly the best poker room I've been to in terms of managers taking care of their players (both monetarily and otherwise).  The dealers were also top notch - I couldn't really pick out more than one dealer who was really having a hard time, and in most rooms there are several.  I also really liked the no cap buyins at NL games and playing with $100s.  It was really nice at the end of a session to be able to sell chips around the table and not have to go to the cage.

Negatives: not a lot of action (Travis will disagree with me here, but I was not playing $5/10).  I played 1/2, 2/5, 4/8 HOSE, and 2/5 PLO.  Plenty of action to be had at PLO and HOSE.  Not as much action at the 1/2 and 2/5 tables (compared to say, AC, or Foxwoods).  There were a few individual players who increased the action quotient at any given table, but on the whole most of the tables I played at were frustratingly tight (although tight weak), and even Saturday night at 1am, we were having trouble filling up our table.  There definitely was not your standard Friday/Saturday drunk crowd.  The best action was probably Friday early afternoon after people started busting out of their "big" $300 buyin tourney.  Whereas in AC/Vegas/Foxwoods, you can get people to bet your own hand for you, it was harder to get people to do that at the Beau in my experience.

Anyways, other than running bad, I really liked the poker room a lot and will definitely be trying to return in the future.

If you are wondering where I am this week...

I'm probably in the library.  Or in seclusion at home trying to finish up the two 20 page papers/presentations I have due next Monday.  The good news is that after Monday I will essentially be home free with only a takehome final and grading my students' finals after that.

Definitely, Maybe

Saw this over the weekend and all I can say is that I wish all rom coms could be as good as this movie.  I loved the plot and it seemed fairly true to life (for a movie), not all sappy with a fake happy ending (e.g., Abigail Breslin's mom and dad are getting divorced and they don't end up getting back together at the end of the movie).  The acting was good, the writing was good...  all in all an underrated movie, methinks.

Netflix it when it comes out on dvd.