Well, twelve days to go. Has anyone started their shopping yet? I should get to that soon, eh?
This past weekend was quite a doozy. I could probably write four or five big blog entries about it, but I'm just too dang busy - so I won't. :-)
It had snowed every day for almost a week, and at one point we were up to about 7 or 8 inches on the ground where we live, although down in the city it was barely even sticking. But then it didn't snow at all for a week, and the fog rolled back in. Now, our neighbourhood is the only one in the lower mainland where snow is still evident - on our rooves, piled in our diveways, and in patches on our lawns. I guess it's just been a little colder up here (staying between 1 and 4 degrees) and the snow has not been so fast to melt. As of today though, we're supposed to be getting lots more sun in the forcast, for the next week or so.
Anyway, about this weekend!
Friday night was my work Christmas party. It was held at the Commodore (which is becoming our second home anyway), so we were comfy there. The food was awesome, the drinks were strong, and the band was, well, um, well, they were a cover band made up of senior management - and while they were talented enough, there's really only so much 'I love pina coladas' and 'New Orleans is Sinking' that Carole and I can take - but that's fine, 'cause we had a backup plan!
We booked a room at the Hotel Vancouver, and used it as our home base for the night. We had checked in at 5PM, had some dinner and a few drinks there before heading to the Commodore at 7PM, and then headed back to the room at about 10:45 - even though the band hadn't even finished their first set. We quickly changed into our rocker clothes and headed out to the Brickyard for 'Stronger Than All' - one of our friend's bands, that was doing a Pantera tribute show on the 1st anniversary of DimeBag's untimely demise. The place was PACKED - in fact, it was sold out. Colin (our friend in the band) tried to get us in, but the doorman was being a hardass - he was even telling people that had already paid, had stamps/tickets, and were just outside for a smoke, to get to the back of the line! Fortunately though, at about 11:30 we finally made it to the front of the line, and got in - just as the band hit the stage, so it was perfect timing.
Since we had accomodations nearby, and for the first time in recent memory I didn't have to drive anywhere, I drank, and drank and drank. Including the three beers at the hotel room and the 7 rye and gingers from the staff party, I was just polishing off my 16th drink of the night when last-call came. Just enough time for one more ... PAR-TAY!
The band was awesome - the songs were so tight, and there were so many special guest guitarists from all sorts of prominant local bands, Dimebag would have been proud for sure. We were invited to the band's after party, but by 2AM, they were still packing up the gear and socializing, so we decided to hunt down an all night pizza place then make our way back to the hotel. We sat on the steps of the art gallery at 2:30AM eating buck-a-slice pizza and listening to a lone violinist "playing for no one" in secluded desolation- it was a pretty surreal moment.
The next morning we had breakfast at Denny's, checked out, and made our way home. Saturday was a pretty lazy day of vegging out, relaxing and watching movies. Well, I went out and got a haircut, but that was the extent of my productivity.
Sunday morning we awoke at 8AM to the sound of the phone ringing. We both knew exactly who it would be, and why. Carole's maternal grandfather had taken ill some weeks ago, and early Sunday morning, PopPop passed away. As Carole was the prime contact for all of the Canadian relatives, the rest of Sunday was largely spent contacting everyone to let them know, and aranging our trip to Philadelphia to attend the services. We will be leaving for Pensylvania the day after tomorrow.
I had booked Monday as a day off - with a purpose, so while Carole went to work, I stayed home and played online poker ALL day. Probably not the best use of time during this hectic shopping season, but it was something I'd been planning on doing for some time, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I had entered a tournament with 6,000 players and actually came in 286th - I actually had a great chip stack (about 30th over all in stack size) - and I bet large when I was dealt pocket kings. Only one caller - perfect! The rainbow flop brings five-eight-king ... I made my trips! Perfect! I go all in. Doubling up will launch me into the final table, guarenteed! What's this? My single opponent CALLS my all in? Ohhh... he's got me covered by a couple thousands chips too... we turn over our cards - Ha!!! All he has is a suited six-seven against my trips, no flush draw, no pair... oh, wait... he's actually got an open ended straight draw 5-6-7-8 ... a four or a nine will beat me... crap!!! Guess what comes out on the turn, despite my 4:1 odds to take down this pot? Yup, it's a nine. That's okay, there are plenty of cards that can save me now... if the last king comes out, I've got four of a kind. Any other 5,6,7,8, or 9 will give me a full house - that's a total of 16 cards in the deck that will win me this pot. That's almost 50/50 odds, I couldn't ask for much better ... alas, it was not to be - and after outlasting over 5700 other entrants, I'm out in 286th. The lamest part is that the top 270 positions get paid... I'm out, and don't win a penny. Argh!
Oh well, I learned a valuable lesson - two actually - 1.) always be weary of the double-belly-buster straight draw (I miss them every time!) and 2.) Never call an all-in when you're on the bubble - even if you've got 3 kings. Going out after all that work just ain't worth it.