Poker Report

I haven't been to AC to play some poker in quite awhile, so given that Colleen I'd still in Nicaragua and it's a three day weekend, I decided to make the trek today.

Right now I'm waiting to head home. It was a mixed day. Actually, anyone else would have been thrilled - I'm going home up $225 for about 8 hours of playing. But I'm not thrilled with my play today. I should probably be up $500, but I made a couple of stupid calls. The only reason I finished up was because I got lucky and doubled up late.

I look down in middle position to see pocket 7's. There was a raise to $12, but that really wasn't that big a raise at this table so I called. I think there another 1 or 2 callers after me. Flop came down 7Q7 rainbow. At this point all I'm thinking is how to get the most money into the pot. I'm first to act and check. Next player bets $10. I'm the only one to call. 8 comes on the turn. I bet $15, hoping the other guy has made a decent hand. He comes over the top $30.

This is where I start my Academy Award nominated performance. I sigh, I look down at my chips, I check my cards, and I carefully count out the chips before calling.

The river comes down 9 of diamonds. I'm pretty stoked about the card, because it puts a straight on the board, and if the guy was drawing, that might have just made his hand. I check. He bets $75. I think for a second and then push all on for another $150 on top.

At this point my hearts pounding like a drum and I'm pretty sure it's visible to the entire table. I'm praying for a call, but don't think I'll ever get it. I just go into my distant state. He counts out the chips and thinks about it for a few good minutes before stacking his $150 and putting it in. I still don't believe he paid me off.

Otherwise my cards were pretty good. I had pocket A's 5 times (including back to back) but got cracked pretty bad twice.

The weather and atmosphere down here were great. I took the train, which has turned out to be a real winner.

Overall a good day, and Colleen will be back tomorrow.

Camille Abate - You're on Notice!

Juan Melli over at BlueJersey has a piece up about 5th CD Democratic primary candidate Camille Abate's latest campaign mailer that claims that she's the only candidate that's been against the Iraq War from the start.

Not shockingly, that's a complete lie, as fellow Democratic candidate (and proud Harvard alum) Rabbi Dennis Shulman was vocally against the war since at least 2003. Such reprehensible behavior is nothing new from Abate as her behavior is very much rooted is a delusionary sense of superiority and a complete lack of moral fiber that is reflected by the behavior of her supporters on BlueJersey. She did this against Paul Aronsohn in 2006 and she hasn't changed since. I expect the results to be the same - a complete blowout of -Abate- but hopefully she doesn't make Shulman waste too much money before going on to face Scott Garrett in the general.

www.shulmanforcongress.com

Answering Stupid Questions...

...so you don't have to.

http://isbarackobamaamuslim.com

It's sad that such a site is necessary, but I'm doing my part in getting the Google ranking up. Pass it on.

Tweetie Layeth the Smacketh Downeth

Hilarious.



I guess he won't be booked on Hardball again.

Storming the Castle photos

DSCN0416, originally uploaded by Jim Griffin.

We're all still recovering, but here are some photos to tide you over.

Howell - Where it all comes to an end

Even after the cops tried to slow us down with a DWI checkpoint on Route 9, we pulled into the Howell White Castle at 12:15 p.m. Premo joined us as we ordered our last slider of the day and downed them without much pomp or circumstance. Thank god this unholy ordeal is over. And thanks to everyone who came out to root us on today.

Eatontown - Where the doubt creeps in

Jay's siblings joined us for sliders and coffee at Eatontown, our 24th stop. This is the stop that we've all started asking "why?" Only 2 more to go!

Woodbridge - The Homecoming

The rolled out 12 deep in Woodbridge as family and friends came to show support.  They had signs and music toshow their love.  Only 4 more to go.

Irvington - Half a storm done

We just finished our 13th stop of the day, and while it was certainly no Jersey City, all three of us are thrilled to be headed over the hump. We were about 25 minutes behind after the city stops, but heading to the burbs should help us make up the time.

Union City - Best food yet

8 down and we just had the best food so far. too bad it was a pain to get to. Plus we got comlpiments on the shirts. Brian Stack should be proud.

Milkshakes in hand

Just left Hasbrouck Heights with delicious milkshakes in hand. 21 more to go.

1Down, 25 to go

Hackettstown is in the books. The service was great(5) and the decor was second to none (4). My sausage breakfast sandwich was tasty (4) and at 4 minutes, it was a quick turn around. On to Ledgewood.

And we're off!!!

And Jay, Scrappy, and I are on our way to Hackettstown for White Castle breakfast  So far, we haven't been pull overher by the police  

On the Eve of Storming the Castle

Here's tomorrow's itinerary:

9:50 a.m. Hackettstown
10:25 a.m. Ledgewood
11:20 a.m. Paterson
11:45 a.m. Clifton
12:15 p.m. Hasbrouck Heights
12:40 p.m. Little Ferry
1:10 p.m. North Bergen
1:40 p.m. Union City
2:05 p.m. Jersey City
2:35 p.m. Newark 2
3:05 p.m. Orange
3:30 p.m. East Orange
4:00 p.m. Irvington
4:25 p.m. Newark 1
4:55 p.m. Linden
5:20 p.m. Elizabeth
5:45 p.m. Union
6:20 p.m. Plainfield
6:50 p.m. Green Brook
7:20 p.m. South Plainfield
7:55 p.m. New Brunswick
8:25 p.m. Woodbridge
9:00 p.m. South Amboy
9:45 p.m. Eatontown
10:35 p.m. Toms River
11:15 p.m. Howell

Follow us here on Stovetop Diplomacy for up to the slider progress of our trip.

Putting You On Notice...

...Drivers who don't turn on their headlights in the rain.

Especially those who drive black, gray and dark blue cars. Even in states where there is now specific law, the general rule is "Wipers on, Lights on." Driving to work this morning in rather heavy rain, I encountered a good fraction of the cars out there having neither headlights nor taillights on, making my job of getting to work tougher and more frustrating. So all you bad drivers are on notice.

Put them up on the board, Stephen:

BONUS: We started the day only with inconsiderate drivers, but overnight, another group snuck their way onto the board: chinese hackers. I got into work today with the Senate Dems website not working right, and upon further investigation, found that someone had hacked into the database and overwritten most of the text fields with a link to a malicious script. Thankfully, backups had been created and all is right in the Garden State. Why do they hate us and our democracy?

Today's Letter of the Day

From the old home-town weekly, the Woodbridge Sentinel:

Keep the 'sex' out of 'Middlesex County'

I would like to urge law makers, senators, politicians, if they can think about changing name of Middlesex County to "Middle County" instead of keeping as Middlesex. The word "sex" in the current name looks weird and does not look appropriate in our society.

Taj Ahmad
Parlin

Seriously, we all had this thought go through our minds - when we were 10 years old - but finally someone decided enough was enough and is taking a stand. Bravo! Other New Jersey counties that would be affected by Taj's renaming scheme include Essex, Sussex and Cumberland Counties.

UPDATE: Per conversations with Todd, the origins of the name Middlesex come from the historic county of England, where the name meant "territory of the middle Saxons." Essex, similarly comes from the region of England meaning "territory of the east Saxons," while Sussex is "territory of the south Saxons." It's quite ironic that while Middlesex is in the middle of New Jersey and Essex is towards the east, Sussex is New Jersey's northernmost county. Geography - not the early colonists strongest suit.

Photos from City Chase

DSCN0412, originally uploaded by Jim Griffin.

Here's me and Colleen at the finish line, with our orange balloons freshly filled.

For more photos from the day, check out the Flickr set here.