Blessed Stump

I didn't play any poker all week and although I played some Call of Duty online I was feeling somewhat bored and restless, which isn't really like me.I even had a look at flats for sale nearer a train station and a bit closer to my work as the 45-60 minute slow commute through a ton of traffic every day was doing my nut in.

The winds were strong enough earlier in the week to knock over some trees nearby and my neighbour across the landing ( not the one downstairs) has decided that having a large tree stump outside her front door ( and therefore outside mine too) is a great idea.It would be hard to sell up and move on with such a blessed stump sitting outside.She's performed reiki on it apparently and intends to engrave it with the the words "War and Peace".I can see Nacho performing something else on it if it sits there much longer!



Nacho has finished his meds and although he still has a slight cough after eating/drinking I think he's on the mend and has hopefully seen off the worst of the kennel cough.The vets were great last week but I'm a bit annoyed that I thought I had my boy fully up to date with all his jags and they didn't recommend one to prevent the kennel cough.Perhaps there are dozens of vaccinations available and all dogs only tend to get a couple.

I did have a crap week but I was cheered up when I heard from the old friend I mentioned in my post last Saturday.She's really busy at work and not even getting time for a lunch hour, but we're hoping to meet up for a cuppa at some point when things quieten down for her and just exchanging a few emails has reminded me of the laughs we used to have.

I had a pastrami and cheese sandwich for lunch yesterday instead of my usual ham/turkey and cheese combo and I think it must have been past it's best because my stomach was really sore last night and I felt so tired I could barely focus at times.I did play some poker though and won $80 from a few $22's on Party and $73 from a set of six $15's on Stars before nearly going to my bed before 11pm.I couldn't focus on the poker anymore so I switched off the laptop, finally got round to watching the first few episodes of "The Shield", and I'm loving it so far.Dare I say it's even better than "The Wire" and I didn't expect to ever be writing that as I've now watched two series of McNulty and co and intend to buy series 3 soon.

It's nearly 1pm as a write this and the plan is to walk Nacho and head down to the Alea for their 2pm £22 turbo tourney.Tonight's plan is to chill out,maybe play some poker and watch the Champions League Final between Man Utd and Barca.I can't see past a Barca win but I just hope it's a good game as so many Champions league finals have been distinctly average over the years.

Ok,thanks for reading.Back soon...

Volume Up,Profits...Down!

I've managed to ramp up my poker volume a bit since my last post and as a change of pace I've also played a couple of sets of 180 player $12 turbos and some 18 player $16's too.I made two 180 turbo final tables and both times I lost to three outers when the world was at stake.At one point I was running so badly that when I auto-folded KK due to running for a toilet break ( yeah,my poker catheter wasn't plugged in!)I wasn't too upset and sure enough I would have lost to AJ hitting an Ace on the flop.It does feel a bit churlish to be complaining about bad luck and sick beats when all I've watched all week on the news is clips of peoples homes being swept away in Japan.

The weird thing was that although I'm down a couple of hundred on Stars since my last stats post I actually quite enjoyed six tabling the multi-table turbo games and as they stay as full tables until the final table I could probably start 8-10 at a time without finding it hard to keep up.Although I usually pause the tv shows when the blinds get really high, I've also now caught up a bit with the rest of the world and nearly finished watching the first series of "The Wire" and the first five brilliant episodes of series 7 of "Peep Show"."The Wire" has been excellent so far and I've already splashed out on the 2nd series.

Not much else going on.I'm still enjoying my time off work with late nights and long sleep ins and I plan on hitting the casino tomorrow night for some live tourney action.On Thus night I'll be at Ibrox for the return leg against PSV and the Gers are still in with a shout of qualifying after a fine 0-0 result in Eindhoven last week.The footballing highlight for me last week though has to be Barcelona's win over Arsenal.

Barca's pass and move football was an absolute joy to watch and although I've seen some great club sides through the years ( the Ajax and AC Milan teams from the late 80's/early 90's come to mind) this current Barcelona time are the best I've ever seen.When Arsenal had a player wrongly sent off I wanted to see them come back and get some justice from the game but in the end I was willing Barca to hit the net after wave after wave of pass and move football which made it all look so simple.

Ok,thanks for reading.Back soon...

The Return of...

...The Bloggerment!



Yep,it's back this Sunday and will be coming soon to the Pokerstars Lobby under the "Private" tab.( click on Tourneys first).It's open to all bloggers,readers and Raisetheriver forum members.Feel free to chat it up or play the silent chip stealing assassin! Bounties are on offer and I'll pay $5 to anyone knocking out Dudley ( Resdent Evil) after just getting a text from him suggesting the crate I swerved to avoid last Monday was put there by a rep from the Foxes Welfare Society!

On the health front I called the Docs this morning and was referred to Accident and Emergency at the hospital due to the slight popping sound I can hear when lying on my front.They literally took the piss,gave me another x-ray and the outcome was that they reckon I've torn muscles in my back and it'll just take time to heal, which in the grand scheme of things is good news.Called the Doc back for a sickline and I've got an appointment for Wed morning.Hopefully a week or two off and I'll be fighting fit again.

*Edit: Just had a call from the Docs to say they've read my hospital notes and I've been given a 2 week sickline with no need to go on Wed.

My sis popped round last night with Spag Bol,Chile and a DVD box set of The Wire and Prison Break.Oh and the Frankie Boyle live dvd too.After she left I played some poker and watched Slumdog Millionaire.I'm actually up a couple of hundred dollars at the $22's this month over not too many games, but as the swings are huge that really doesn't mean very much.

I also called the insurance company and they say I should get a call within a couple of days to negotiate a payout for my wrecked Focus.I like the look of a Honda Civic v-tec Type S I spotted and may raid my poker account if required too.

Ok,Back to feeling like I've been attacked by a Fire-Truck...