One of the biggest disappointments that I'll ever have:

That my singing of the national anthem last Thursday at the Illini Wrestling match was not filmed in any way, shape, or form.

OK, so in case you didn't hear, yes, I sang the anthem last Thursday. To summarize, as I was reading off the senior day intros and stuff, Tim, the Event Management person, started to freak out because his music computer broke. At the same time, James Big Poppa Morton, Tim's boss, went looking for the backup national anthem CD, but it was nowhere to be found. At this point, both of them were a bit in panic mode, which put me in panic mode. James tried to tell me that maybe if I just got everybody started, it would be OK.

Well, I decided that if I got things started, I would just have to do it.

So I did.

It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, and I definitely wavered a bit, but I think it was close to being on pitch, and I remembered all the words. Now that I look back on it a week later, I'm actually very proud of myself. I was extremely nervous, but didn't freak out, and just blasted through it. And I'll always have a great story to tell.

Other notes: I've been ridiculously busy, and haven't played a lot of poker. That's not good.
I got an iphone 3. $50. Nice. Switched over to AT&T in the process, which is fine. I liked t-mobile, but not enough to have brand loyalty or anything.

I'm trying to tweet more. If you are so inclined, feel free to follow me!

Please note:

The list of meats used in the Grilling of the Meats to the side. They were all spectacular. I don't even know who made the porkbellies, but holy crap was it delicious.

My car managed to break again. Something snapped on the undercarriage (which I like to say too much...undercarriage), and is currently dragging on the ground while I drive. Haven't had time to fix it quite yet, however.

I'm thinking strongly about my next tattoo...a block I and a microphone. I don't know if I want to get it now, or when I'm done announcing.

My new intern starts this morning. I'm excited to have a little bit of intern help, but it should be a good amount of training to get her up to speed.

Mike

Day after the Blizzard

I like Lil Wayne.

I wish he performed fewer songs, so he'd concentrate more in each individual song.

A couple of other random thoughts

2 hospital trips within one month. That's pretty crazy, huh? I can honestly say that might be the first time that's happened in my life, maybe since I was a toddler. Other than a follow up type of a thing. So....there's always a first. Let's hope it's the last, at least for a while...after tomorrow's appointment.

Poker...I've battled my way back to having a positive month, so far. I'm pretty proud of that. I would really like to win more, though. I've got stuff I'd love to buy.

Netflix on the Wii...good stuff.

So, I missed the Ben Folds concert last night. That flipping stinks. I can't tell you how disappointed I am. Not many opportunities to see your favorite artist, but then I have to go home and sleep since I've lost sleep, blood, patience...you name it.

Got some Gator for Grilling of the Meats XII, which is coming up in approximately 10 days. Julia had better get going on that one.

I had something I wanted opinions on when I started this. I've lost it.

So, I spent the entire day Tuesday in the ER.

That wasn't the most fun that I've ever had.

Among the firsts for me:
CTScan
Ultrasound (that wasn't administered by my spectacular trainer, Amber "Beef" Nagele)
IV
Having multiple women look at my junk at the same time.

Needless to say, I'm OK this morning. Some internal abdominal stuff, but nothing serious, and the pain has reduced immensely. But thank you to Julia for taking the day off work and keeping me company, and to both of my parents for offering to leave where they were and come at a moment's notice.

Quick poker post...

hopefully a life update post tomorrow.

I'm trying to get in to freerolls to learn how to play better at 6-handed. As I hopefully get in to more tournaments and live cash games, I'll need to know how to play shorthanded a lot better than I do right now. It will greatly help my post-flop play, so I know I need to get it done.

Any tips you might have would be great.

Thanks!

So, I've had/have laryngitis.

This has been a very, very difficult few days. I lost the top range of my voice on Monday night, after a cold of 5 days and a basketball game, as well as giving a tour to my cousin Cathy in the cold on Monday. All exacerbating factors. One of my vocal cords was swollen to about triple the size of the other one, while the throat is just raw from clearing my throat from the sickness.

So, I'm thankful that Dr. Edwin McCammack at Christie Clinic is an Illini fan, and also an undersanding man, and made it a priority to get me back in to shape for tonight's game with Northwestern. I'm going to have to get him and his staff something nice.

I'd like to say that things are going to be perfect tonight, but I think more appropriately, they'll be functional.

We'll see.

Also, on a side note, I suck at poker.

I suck for not writing more in December

So, my apologies to anyone who is still following this.

I'll try to give a quick recap of my Holidays, as best I can.

The most important thing is that I got to see most of my family, whether it be in person, or via skype. I received a ton of great gifts, and I'm incredibly thankful. I don't want to list them or brag or anything, because I realize I'm lucky to have such wonderful people in my life that are nice enough to get stuff for me. I hope that the gifts I bought for people were equally enjoyable.

Traveled to Lombard to see my Dad, although it was a pretty short visit there. While there, I had the misfortune of watching the Illinois-UIC game, and nearly crying. Just brutal to view. But we had a great dinner at Wildfire, with its gluten free buns, and I'm happy about that.

Had a great Christmas Eve-early with my mom and Julia. Our respective Santas were fun. Julia got a very nice game for the Wii, Project Runway. I can't wait to see that one in action. Mom, meanwhile, got a game where you create your own horsie and ride it around. Pretty fancy stuff.

Julia and I spent the actual holiday with her family in Tulsa. They were spectacular to me, making sure I was set to go with all of the gluten free items I could possibly want. That's a mixed blessing. I truly enjoy gluten free cakes and pies (homemade crust!), but man, my belly surely doesn't need it at all. Good gravy. Not having run in 4 months makes it difficult to burn off the necessary calories. That's for sure.

Got back in time to watch the Illini bowl victory at home. The last time the football team had won a bowl game was within a few weeks of me taking the Mix job. Thta's shaky. 1999. Also, I felt very old.

Speaking of which, I got the recent Sports Illustrated, where they highlight all of the athletes that have passed away in the last year. Now, THAT made me feel old. All of a sudden, there are these people who I used to watch, and they're dying. crud. I felt particularly bad remembering that Ron Santo passed. My poor grandmother.

That's all for now. No poker stats for December, becuase I sucked. And because then Jill will get all mad at me. Can't have that.

Some random musings:

I like snow. I really do. I don't mind cold temperatures, either. Honestly, I enjoy the bundling up, and the different activities that winter brings.

All bets are off, however, on or about February 20th. That's when I get sick of it.

Finally have gotten in to Mad Men. Yeah, it's that good. Julia is ahead of me now, and can't stop watching it to let me catch up. Jerk.

Illinois is going to a Bowl Game. It is the Texas Bowl. I think if you had told me that this team was going to go to a bowl at the beginning of the year, I would have said yes, no question. If you had told me when they were 5-3 that it was going to be the Texas Bowl, I'd have said, noooooooo!
But let's go to consecutive bowls, maybe even 4 or 5, and then we can start being picky about which bowl it is. K?

Re: The Walking Dead. I hate zombie or most horror films/shows. But Glenn told me that this was a 6 episode dealie, so I figured I could invest six hours in what was supposed to be a really well made show.
Well, it is a well made show. So much so that it officially gave me my first zombie nightmare last night. Dammit Glenn. I hate you more than anything. So, instead of being up since 3:30 like normal, today I've been up since 2:30. I HATE YOU GLENN WESTFIELD.

Julia's 30th was this past week. Thanks to all of the wonderful peeps who sent cards, or came out on Saturday for a bit. It was nice.

County Market has added gluten free oatmeal to their selection. Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Quick poker stats for November

Up $1.78. Overall bankroll after November at 200.51.

I did not get to play as much as I'd hoped.
57 sessions, 3818 hands, 11 days, 15.5 hours. That's down significantly.

Earnings:
.05/100 hands.
.46BB/100 (need this to get higher)
$.11/hour
1.14BB/hr

At 5nl, up 1.79 for the month to 23.53 for the year.
At 2nl, down 0.01 for the month to 63.49 for the year.

I hit my bonus, and got 10 bucks from pokerstars. Happy about that.

Still treading water too much. I know that this month, I felt I got my money all in good a LOT. For example, yesterday, twice, I was all in and a heavy favorite, only to lose. I found that happening more than me sucking out.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm overthinking myself in 2NL, and just need to be extremely simple. It might be that basic. If so, expect big things in December.

I want to hit 225 this month. I can do this.