October 8, 2004 Archives

We continue playing poker - having fun. Things were better a few months ago, I'll admit. Still, we're up and haven't put anything in our account since the first deposit in August 2003.

As you play over longer periods of time, you end up seeing some improbable things. I was playing in a $15+$1 tournament when the following happened. The tournament chips referred to are sort of like points, not dollars. The top three finishers win real money... but not in the thousands.

In case that was tough to follow, I ended up with four of a kind! Unfortunately, so did someone else. His were Kings which beat my Fours.

Luckily, when I went 'all in,' the guy who ended up with the 4 - Kings had a little less money than I did. So I had $276 in tournament chips after this hand. I was able to hold on and finish 2nd and win a few bucks.

We've been watching some unsettled weather in the Gulf of Mexico for the past few days. Today, the Hurricane Center said, "enough is enough," and Tropical Storm Matthew was born.

This is not a major deal and I normally wouldn't even pop it here in the blog - other than to say I have links to the latest hurricane bulletins on the right side of the screen.

What makes it significant is that it looks to be headed toward the Florida Panhandle! That would be the fifth named storm to hit Florida this year. Can you imagine?

Matthew should grow enough to be a hurricane; still, how much more can one state take?

Wow - I love this. Forget who wins or loses. Think about tonight's debate in the context of the world.

How many other places throughout history could a confrontation like this take place?

A friend of mine used to work in Singapore. After recent elections, the victorious prime minister actually sued his opponent for what was said during the campaign! How does that promote democracy?

This is not a perfect society. We all have feet of clay. Still, tonight especially, I am very proud to be an American.