the WU reborn

sweet, delicious 9-4

I am ROTIPRATA. Enjoy the carnage as a guy calls me down on a paired board with top pair....

Dealer: Hand #100428184

Dealer: poker_dude25 posts the small blind of $0.50

Dealer: rotiprata posts the big blind of $1

Dealer: You have been dealt [9d 4d]

Dealer: mac folds

Dealer: OliverB folds

Dealer: steve79 calls $1

Dealer: corky3434 folds

Dealer: shenandoahkid calls $1

Dealer: gradtom calls $1

Dealer: moresex calls $1

Dealer: poker_dude25 folds

Dealer: rotiprata checks

Dealer: The flop is [Jd 4c 9c]

Dealer: rotiprata checks

Dealer: steve79 checks

Dealer: shenandoahkid checks

Dealer: gradtom bets $5

Dealer: moresex folds

Dealer: rotiprata calls $5

Dealer: steve79 folds

Dealer: shenandoahkid folds

Dealer: The turn is [9h]

Dealer: rotiprata checks

Dealer: gradtom bets $8

Dealer: rotiprata has 15 seconds left to act

Dealer: rotiprata raises to $24

Dealer: gradtom calls $16

Dealer: The river is [2s]

Dealer: rotiprata bets $165.50, and is all in

Dealer: gradtom has 15 seconds left to act

gradtom: i think i have the best hand here

Dealer: gradtom calls $78.45, and is all in

Dealer: Uncalled bet of $87.05 returned to rotiprata

Dealer: rotiprata shows a full house, Nines full of Fours

Dealer: gradtom mucks

Dealer: rotiprata wins the pot ($217.40) with a full house, Nines full of Fours

Dealer: gradtom is sitting out

madison

new photo album right freakin here!

as i'm moving to vancouver next month, i thought it would be cool to catch up with some of my pals who have migrated or always lived in madison.  it's only 70 miles west of milwaukee, so on saturday, the journey was fast.

i met up with ryan and jacqui, and settled in their living room.  i gave ryan a hat, and he gave me a ceramic bowl that he had made while in school.  thanks ryan!  he and i played a hell of a lot of magic, resulting in him weeping at the savage beating.  so, not a lot has changed over the years.  that's right son!  haha

after a while, we went to a free show in the park.  ryan had helped them set up stages that morning for four hours, so we got to see the fruits of his labor.  there were three stages, and we headed for the DJ one. 

in that area, there were plywood walls erected where people were encouraged to spray paint murals and such.  some of them were actually pretty good.  however, the fumes combined with the gusts of lake wind made for an interesting situation. 

soon, graham showed up, and we chatted for a while.  afterwards, the four of us went for dinner at kabul, a middle eastern restaurant that proved to be pretty good.

the next night, we went to some friends of jacqui's place, and watched a few episodes of the office.  i'd never seen this british comedy before, and i thought some parts of it were funny, but it's unlikely i'd ever go out of my way to watch it again.  however, as an added bonus, i managed to get the shit scratched out of my left forearm while attempting to pet one of their cats.  i'm healing nicely, thank you very much.

the next day, i met up with vickie, and we headed to the olbrich botanical gardens in monona.  it was nice to get outside and walk among the plants, and after a while, we camped out near a pagoda and just chatted to catch up on old times, most notably her upcoming wedding, the events that led up to the engagement, and the mysterious disappearance of beat box joe.  afterwards, we headed to willy street coop for some lunch. 

later that day, i met up with brian and mike.  we had some thai for dinner, then headed to brian's place that he shares with severa, box, and brimmer.  the whole house is a gamer's paradise, with almost every room boasting some combination of big screen tv's, dvd players, video game systems, pc's with multiple monitors for online pokering, tables for magic or poker, and couches.  it was a bit surreal to me, as there were always people milling in and out of the house, but i can see how time can stand still and years could rapidly slip by in this house of fun.  i played a few hundred hands of poker online, watched harold and kumar, and then passed out.

the next day, i was the first to rise, and got ready to meet up with emily for lunch.  she came to get me around 11:30, and we headed to a nearly mexican place.  it was cool to see her after several years, and it seems like she's doing well for herself.  i teased her for the britney look, which she shrugged off as having just gotten done doing a hair show for a friend.  must be nice to get free haircuts!

i returned to the pad, only to find that brian was the only one up.  we hung around for hours, and people came to the house for one thing or another.  it was a lazy afternoon.  that evening, sean and marian came to pick me up, and we went to meet their friend dan for dinner at maharajah.  most notably discussed were the old days of hardwired, and the gone then back now scot forest. 

once i got back to the house, brian and i took off for a live poker game.  it was a casual game, but 30 people showed up!  becky and phil were back in town, so it was good to see them.  there were a couple other people there who i knew, but other than that, i didn't know anyone.  it was ok, but a bit slow paced, and the action stopped early.  brian left to meet folks at a bar after busting out, and i left shortly thereafter.  the drive back to milwaukee was uneventful, but it was good to sleep in my own bed again.

overall, the trip was a success, but i didn't get a chance to meet up with steve, hustad, or jen maze.  perhaps they'll make it to my going away party.

doctor alienware, i presume

so the laptop has been acting a little strange lately, which was annoying to me, as i pride myself in the upkeep of my possessions in general, but my computers in particular.  essentially, the video would shut down after the screen saver had been on for 30 minutes or so, leading me to have to reboot.  after a week or so of this nonsense, i would shut it down, reboot, only to have the video not come on at all.

i called tech support at alienware and after a few trial and error swings, we came up blank.  he informed me that i'd have to open the laptop up and clean out the guts after removing the video card.

i dunno about you, but that's not something i'm real comfortable with.  generally speaking, i've always regarded a laptop like an exposed household outlet in a basement filled with water: don't jam screwdrivers and pliers in there unless you want your ass in a sling.

after finding a screwdriver small enough, i was faced with this:

see the silver thing with grooves in it in the middle?  that's the video card.  it's held in place with some tiny screws and that tin foil looking stuff up top, which is really a high-tech tape of sorts that attaches itself to anything it touches like hookers to charlie sheen.  once that stubborn little mule came out, i cleaned it all out with canned air and put it back together.

i actually took the fan cover off by mistake at first, and getting that thing together was a pain.  the screws are SO small, i was stressed that one would fall into the laptop, never to be seen again.  this is why i'd never make a good surgeon.  i'd be worried about dropping a scalpel of forceps underneath some poor bastard's liver.

anyway, she's up and running again.  i'm crossing my fingers this fixed the problem permanently.  i'll be pretty chapped if i have to UPS it to miami for professional work!

in other news, my soon-to-be-married college buddy jeremy has a blog of sorts now. he's a big time gamer, and they have a blog organization just for them.  you can catch him here.

more on dc

new photos in the april album

apples.  they're part of a 2 week liver/gall bladder/ intestinal cleansing that i'm on right now.  as a matter of fact, i will eat all the apples in that picture in the next 72 hours.  it basically involves a lot of fruits and veggies and flax seed oil, and not a hell of a lot of anything that ever had a face on it.  good timing for this cleanse because we ate the hell out of the east coast...

well, joel didn't lie.  the crabs were good.  after killing off about 40 crabs, we headed to the borgata hotel casino and spa in atlantic city.  we checked into a room, got our names on the 1-2 NL list and waited to sit down.  the poker room is large and spreads a wide variety of limits.  there were a lot of people there, many anticipating the $500 buyin qualifier the next day for $10K buyin final tournament at the mirage poker open.

the table we sat on was absolutely amazing.  lots of loose, passive play, and tons of non-believers.  we played for seven hours and i went to sleep up a considerable amount, mostly on the heels of my 66 flopping a set to 3 way action, my AA vs KK, and my T9 flopping two pair and filling up on the river.

the next day was more of the same, although i lost my initial buyin first.  after rebuying, i went on a tear, and left up again.  joel made a bit of a comeback friday too. 

we left atlantic city heading for philadelphia.  as soon as we got to town, we went for some great pho.  then, we met up with joel's chick amy and a few of her pals.  some of them were performing at a bar that evening, so after a quick stop for cheese steaks, we went to see them jam.  it was their first performance, and it sounded pretty good, folky music using unusual instruments like banjos and mandolins.

we crashed at rich's house, and caught him as he was on his way out of town.  i hadn't seen rfran since gp detroit many moons ago, so it was nice to see him.  while there, his cat found a beetle-like bug and showed some interest, but not the killer instinct i was anticipating.  needless to say, i was a bit disappointed.  nice cat though. =)

next day was shopping in philly after a great brunch.  i got a couple of tee shirts and some cool sneakers at the puma outlet.  after dinner, we headed back to DC.  joel and amy went to a going away party for a peace corps-bound friend,, and i, pooped, retreated to a quiet evening of reading and online poker.

next day, joel and amy picked me up and we headed for indian food, then a bit of shopping at an army surplus store.  shortly thereafter, i was on a train headed to the airport and home. 

overall, it was a great trip, and it was good to see joel and the east coast again.  overall impressions of dc were that it is nice if you know everyone and your way around.  it seems quite spendy though, rivaling san fran.  philly has great eats and nice people but it's filthy.  and atlantic city has awful poker players and a good ocean view.  i'm sure i'll be heading back out to catch an eagles game.

tonite i went to marquette university to be a witness in a mock trial for shanna.  it was pretty fun, and made me want to watch law and order even more than i already do.  sad, i'm addicted to a tv show for the first time in over a decade.

dc

i arrived in washington dc last night around midnite and took a cab down to the pool hall / bar where joel works.  after closing down around 4, we headed back to his crib

today we're going to acquire a car head to annapolis for some allegedly amazing crabs.  at some point we are likely to head to atlantic city, but everything is up in the air at the moment.  more later...

things i need to sell

i've added some photos of tables and lamps in my april album.  these are the things i'd like to sell before i move in a month:

3 glass / metal tables (pictured)

2 lamps (pictured)

JVC 3 disk dvd player with remote (not pictured)

i also have a few ebay auctions going.

if you know anyone interested (especially the lamps and tables as they are too big to move), i'd appreciate the help.   

well, i'm off to DC in a few hours til sunday.  have a great weekend.

lots of love,

wk

house cleaning

new photos in the April Album.

well, i've decided on vancouver...at least for now.  my plan is to move at the end of may, just after dad's birthday.  consequently, i have a lot of loose ends to tie up.  it's turning out to be a lot more shit than i thought it would be.

i think a lot of people go through life just moving shit from one place to the next.  i know i have.  well, this time, i've limited myself to what i can fit in and on my car.  that's made me get rid of most things large, and really consolidate.

yesterday i went through every single item in my room, down to the last paperclip.  i threw out a lot, made several piles to give away or sell, and shredded probably 2000 pieces of paper, including tax and financial documents dating back to 1992.

today i ran a bunch of errands: i picked up the jacket i won from potowotomi, which i intend to blow out on ebay.  i don't know why they find it necessary to give us clothing all the time when everyone just wants cash prizes for special hands.  it's annoying.  anyway, i went to emissions and got a sticker for my car, and i stopped at half price books to sell some crappers, and aladdin's castle to spend some leftover video game tokens from like.....5 years ago.

i still have a few things in limbo, like my ticket i got when on the way out to collect some money.  i guess i haven't thought about it that much since it was the same day dad got in an accident in bc and flipped his car.  thankfully he's ok.

mom's in singapore, getting ready to head to korea for a few weeks.  she's running workshops there for her contemplative outreach organization.

my next project will be clothes, which shouldn't take long.  i think i wear 20% of what i have.  the rest is gonna be gone baby gone.

friday is a poker tourney at gilliy's house.  i took second last time.  saturday i have a poker tourney at 330 online, then probably going to head up to mequon for lisa's bday party at johnnys.  next week wednesday i leave for washington dc to visit joel.  i'll be there til sunday.  i guess eating a lot of crab, a trip to atlantic city to borgata casino, and a lot of wandering around is on the itinerary.  i'm looking forward to that.

i've managed to catch up with a few pals lately including burns, ap, eddie, karl and blotto.  good to see everyone, and i'm hoping to get a bit more socializing in before i leave for the great white north.

chicago chicago

snoop and i had planned to go see john digweed on wednesday.  karl agreed to let us stay, and to take off work on thursday to bum around with us.  last minute, sanj baled, so i decided to go down thursday to see karl anyway.

first we went to phoenix for dimsum, which was awesome.  next we tried to see the cut up bodies exhibit at the museum of science and industry.  sadly, the spring break crowds had the place stuffed to the gills, so we retired back to his place for some super puzzle fighter 2 turbo.  karl's still better than me at the moment, but i'm getting better (again).  in the evening, we met shannon and plotner at san soo gab san for some korean bbq, then out for ice cream.  in the end, we played a good bit of cribbage and golf (card game), before i headed home.

all in all, a fun day in chicago.  i felt a bit like ferris bueller.