Grey's Anatomy - Plots that make you go HUH?

This is a short post to gripe. I didn't watch the early seasons of Grey's and missed the whole Izzy/Denny love story plot and the subsequent death of Denny.

So WTF is up with this Denny returning from the dead storyline with Izzy. Is Alex destined to be plagued with one nut job woman after another? He just got done with Rebecca. And what is up with Izzy having imaginary sex with a dead hallucination?

I'm just scratching my head.

I'd rather watch the Grey's interns practice cutting and stitching each other up which is at least more plausible. I also have no idea if the doctor with Asberger's syndrome character was a one shot story to make us forget about Erica being written out of the show or if she's to be a recurring character.

On an up note, I am really digging Sandra Oh's Cristina this year and am looking forward to seeing her and Dr McArmy's chemistry. Dr Bailey (Chandra Wilson) never disappoints either, she just always says the right things.

And maybe one day Mer/Der will have a normal adult relationship without a bunch of roommates, strays, half sisters, dead mothers diaries floating around. Too me they always appear to be two ships passing in the night. We need a little more focus on this core duo.

It's Tuesday Night and no ESPN poker

What's a girl to do now that the WSOP tuesday nite broadcasts are over and done with?

I get out of work too late for the high-rollers tournament at my club. SIGH

I could play the Bodonkey. (Maybe Thursday night or maybe next Tuesday night). I no longer jones for online poker.

I could watch 90210.. too late missed it.

Nope, I wrote the recap of my Michael Franti & Spearhead show over on Coventry. So go read it!!!

Music frees the mind and soothes the soul. Just what I need after a stressful day on the phones doing my day job.

Oh, and Snake and I are all tied up thanks to the Dallas win. I received a text message during the game of: I''ll let you get even with boys win!" He had made a bonehead move in the Philly/Giants game the previous week. He circled Giants in his NY Post but emailed me Philly as his pick. If I eek out a one game win at season's end it will be because of that game. But I made a bonehead pick earlier in the season too if I remember correctly.

Hey Now

I've been a busy beaver lately.

I had issues with my work phone which sent me into the office for two days. Oh the horror of working in an office. It's loud, it's noisy and it's distracting. But it was nice to see people.

I had two nice scores live on back to back weekends: 3rd and 5th. That made 4 final tables in 4 outings but only two cashes. On the week I limped to the final table and finished 10th, all hell broke loose when a club member was asked to leave for alleged cheating. I didn't see it myself so I'll hold to the old Lou Reed adage of "Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see". I'm taking some of the winnings and using it for a buy-in at TROCK the day after Thanksgiving in their Deep Stack Series.

I was extremely happy with the outcome of the Election.

Snake5970 has a slim one game lead on me in our head to head death match. He took the lead last week for the first time all season. The Thursday nite games are killing me. Since I have to get my weekly picks in before i can study USA today's Friday section and look at the ESPN analysis, I feel hurried to make my pics.

I was rooting for Chino to take down the WSOP, Snake was rooting for Dennis Phillips. Snake came over to my house after spending all day in the woods and bagging his first deer of the season with bow and arrow. We ordered in Barbecue (no venison) and caught up and watched the final table. I of course already knew the outcome having spent most of November 9th following F-Train and Change100's excellent hand for hand coverage over on PokerNews, and the audio on Bluff. I woke up early Tuesday morning to see that Peter Eastgate had won (I couldn't help myself from looking). Snake hated the way Phillips played the Ak vs AQ hand and was disappointed in his overall play. I didn't know what the holdings were on that particular hand until the broadcast but remember reading it while following along on Pokernews (I hadnt pulled up the audio at that point) and agree 100%.

I did try to win a piece of Phillips in the final MDM tourney cashing for some cheese but no piece of him which required a top 100 finish. I had come close in my first MDM attempt trying to win a piece of Chino. From the sounds of it everyone had a piece of Chino!!!

The people who play the NLHE double or nothings on Pokerstars are the biggest nits. I still have not mastered winning a coinflip. And frankly if it becomes impossible to get money on and off online sites I will not shed a tear. I probably will sign up for one of those monthly fee sites like Bluff's for amusement and just play live. I have not played on Full Tilt since Waffles night back in October. I transferred all funds over to Stars and have been playing pretty much exclusively there or live.

I went out with BFF Kim Friday night. Vietnamese food to start and then Michael Franti & Spearhead concert for a girl's night out. Look for a post over on Coventry within the next day or so. Franti rocked the Palace theatre. It was my second time seeing him this year and he doesn't disappoint.

I went thru a ton of X-mas collectibles/ornaments/decorations I've acquired over the years and consigned them. Almost all of my Hallmark ornaments and all my Dept56 North Pole village accessories (I haven't decided to part with my buildings yet but they may go next weekend). I have no where to put the village up that would prevent Bailey from running amok thru it. And its just stuff I don't need. I've culled thru my vintage shiny brites and kept the good ones getting rid of the oddballs. I bought box lots of them on EBay or at garage sales and you get good with bad in a box.

I need the Dallas Cowboy's to win to draw even with Snake5970. He went against his team and picked the Redskins. He called me earlier for an update as he'd been holed up at a friends place since early Friday with no TV, internet or cellphone access. Saturday marked the first day of muzzleloading season so if you are a sportsman in Upstate NY Saturday was a holiday. Snake hunts on properties that are part of a consortium of landowners and hunters. The hunters not only hunt, they also actively monitor the deer population working with NYS DEC. Its sport but its also conservation. I know that sounds like a dichotomy but its true just ask Ted Nugent.

A Public Service Announcement-

I received this friendly reminder today:




I wanted to personally Thank You for pledging to vote through HeadCount. Your commitment to participate in the upcoming election is a meaningful first step - now it's time to follow through and VOTE on Election Day.

Together, we have a chance to truly make a difference.

If you have questions regarding your polling place, registration status, or anything else related to the election, please visit www.HeadCount.org or call 866-OUR-VOTE.

Thank You! See you at the polls.

- Bob Weir



HeadCount Mission:
HeadCount is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to voter registration
and inspiring participation in democracy through the power of music.

I've exercised my right to vote each and every presidential election since 1980 which was the first year I could vote for president. I was attending the University of Colorado at Boulder at the time.

I'll be voting for CHANGE on Tuesday November 4th 2008.

Football week 7 and weekly recap.

I had a busy last few days. Mama IG had foot surgery to repair the toe next to her big toe last Wednesday and I had to take her to her post-op appt on Friday. She then took me out for a belated birthday lunch. I of course had to drive as her foot is in an elevated boot for two weeks until she can downsize to a flat foot thing. So I of course had friday off and ran first thing in the AM making it twenty minutes.

Thursday nite I got out of jail free; I mean work early as I had a dentist appt at 4:30 PM. there is no way I am coming home and working for an hour or two till 7PM when I'm off on friday. I am starting the weekend early and that means Starbucks trip. I had wanted to go play live poker but my mom requested I stay on stand by in case something happened and she needed me to respond asap. As it was she had a friend come over to keep her company for the evening. I watched my tv shows of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. I hadnt slept well the nite before and was tired so I'm glad I stayed home.

Jumping to Saturday, I ran in the AM again. I am up to twenty minutes and running 1.7 miles+ I'm definitely not down to ten minute miles yet but i added a long uphill into a new loop and i know im already covering more ground only a week into my "training regimen". I did errands in the late morning and prepared to head out to play the little "big' game. I call it the little big game because the buy-in was dropped a bit to $125 from its prior $140 to bring in more people at a new venue from where it previously was held. Poker report to follow.

Sunday I took mama IG to the Glenville Queen Diner where I had Eggs benedict and home fries my favorite. We then went down to Barnes and Noble and killed some time. My mom is not a football fan and she wanted to get some fresh air so I obliged. I also then brought in her hoses and dumped the dead plants and brought pots and plants in for her. When I arrived back home I went for some R& R which meant watching football, baseball and the Amazing race.

So IG's picks for the week were :

>> BUF>> CAR>> CHI>> PIT TEN>> MIA>> NYG>> DAL>> HOU>> IND NYJ WAS>> TB>>>> Monday game>>>> DEN POINTS - 45>>

Heading into the week the Snake vs IG challenge looked like this:
(IG) 56-32 (Snake) 54-34

Still holding my two game advantage.

Since its Monday I can announce early results . We we picked 4 games differently this week. Three of the games were early on Sunday. I swept Snake 3-0. We have picked tonights game differently. Me=Denver, he= NE. Can I run my lead out to 6 games?. Here's hoping so. I received a congratulatory text from Snake yesterday on my picks. I'm pretty sure he came right home from hunting and checked to see the standings. I did not rub it in when we spoke briefly post text message. He told me was in rough shape after two days of hunting and he could barely move. I jokingly told him he needs to get in shape and come running with me (not really possible since he has a steel rod in his upper back). He may run around in the woods a bit while hunting, but sitting in a tree stand waiting for a deer/turkey etc. to come by isn't exercise. I've already dropped 5 lbs from a diet change and from exercising (yeah i know its water weight).

I'm going to keep poker out of this post and reserve it for another one as there is too much to say.

NFL Week #6

Season record thru week 5:

IG 48-26
Snake 46-28

I won two of the three games we picked differently and moved back to a two game advantage. All picks are Straight up (SU) vs ATS (against the spread) in my three season long contests. This week Snake and I picked 4 games differently and they are all early games. I can sweat the games and then go play live poker.

California Rob's league looks like this:

JD 53 21 (has had two weekly wins this year)
JUNX 50 24
SOOZ 50 24
DOUBLED 48 26
GREER 48 26
IRONGRL 48 26 (yours truly... can hang with the boys on the field as well as the felt)
SAL 48 26
SBCCVAQ 48 26

followed by the rest of the league: DOM 47 27 JACK 47 27 TY 47 27 POPS 46 28 VELIO 46 28 RUMBLER 45 29 BIGD 44 30 51 43 31 JMW 43 31 RT 43 31 (California Rob & league commish himself) STEVEM 43 31 ZILLI 43 31 RJW 42 32 SCHOTTS 42 32 WILL 42 32 PMILLER 41 33 RAK 41 33 CU 40 34 LJF 40 34 V 40 34 MAYBE 38 36


I'm in a multi way tie for 14th place in the Tao of Poker league 5 games out of first place with 48 points. there is 1 at 53, 1 at 52, 1 at 51, 4 at 50 pts, and 6 at 49, 7 at 48 (includes me) there are about 82 of us who have picked all 5 weeks left.

My picks for this week:

WAS> CHI> HOU> BAL> MIN> NO> NYJ> TB> DEN> DAL> PHI> GB> SD> >
Monday game> > NYG > > POINTS - 45>

It's really really nice to be able to watch your alma mater play on national TV 5 of the first 6 weeks of their season. It is not nice to watch them lose three weeks in a row. CU lost to Kansas in a game that got away from them totally in the second half. Cody Hawkins was pulled by his coach who happens to be his father to give the backup QB Matt Ballenger some experience for the second week in a row. What i saw left me scared for the future. Where is Kordell (Stewart) or Koy (Detmar)? I flipped the channel in despair to watch the much better game of Texas vs Oklahoma.

Congrats to Texas (who beat up on CU last week) for beating Number #1 Oklahoma. I know all to well the anguish that was on the faces of the Sooner fans as they left the stadium late in the 4th quarter. I remember all to well the sea of Sooner Red and sea of Cornhusker Red in my stadium during my college years.

Although my hammies were sore today when i woke up, I took to them with a quick roll of my massage stick and I hoofed it out the door for another 15 minutes of slogging (I cant call it jogging just yet). My baby loop is 1.3 miles just about and I beat it down the line at about 11:30 mile pace. Short of stopping to double knot my shoe I have not had to mix jogging with walking. Tomorrow I will take the day off and be back at it Wednesday AM. I came back inside to watch an ESPN story on a San Diego triathlete who was killed in the first fatality in 50 years from a great white shark attack. Of course I had tears welling from my eyes. Read the compelling story here.


Yours truly the real Ocho Cinco (eat your heart out Chad Johnson!!!) at the West Point triathlon circa August 2002 or 2003. My arms and legs are both toned and although not as thin as when i was solely a runner I was in awesome shape. My goal is to achieve that body composition once again.

Inspiration move me brightly

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu- Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)


Maybe its because this is the weekend of the Hawaii Ironman World Championship in Kona which is streaming live at Ironmanlive.com as well as the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon which yours truly directed for 5 years from 2000-2005. Or maybe its because its a beautiful fall day with a nip in the air with the leaves turning. Or just maybe its because on Monday (10/13) I turn 48 and the my usually curvy boobs and butt are noticeably fuller and untoned and Ive developed a bit of a Buddha belly.

A stint on Dancing with the Stars would certainly help me get in shape and I can dance. Although never formally trained in ballroom, I do have classical ballet and jazz and modern dance training in my background. Unfortunately, I am not even a D list celebrity (maybe a D-list poker blogger). I could join the likes of Chris Berman, Chris Carter, Mike Golic, Dan Marino and Marie Osmond (who I share a birthday with) and join the NutriSystem bandwagon.

But the surest fire way for me to get in shape is to get off my lazy cerebral, poker playing ass and begin running. The seed was planted earlier this year when i saw the launch of the Xterra trail running series held in conjunction with the Xterra triathlon series. It was further planted when I got together this summer with one of my oldest & dearest friends, Debbie up at the Saratoga racetrack and we talked about our old adventures and how we should have tried out for the Amazing Race (both of us are former running club presidents, race directors, snowshoe racers, trail runners). Debbie will always have a place in my heart for trying to teach me to Mt bike and laughing at me during my numerous falls off the bike including almost cracking my elbow. She didn't even blink an eye when I took a tumble off her $3000 Serotta.

I had even suggested a weight loss prop bet to Snake prior to his trip to Vegas. he begged off saying he couldn't start prior to Vegas. Instead i listened to his tale of overindulgence at Lawry's the Prime Rib and the Palm Steak House. I mean if Mike Matusow can lose 60 lbs, IG can certainly lose 10-20 lbs (15 is the goal). JLo completing the Nautica Malibu Triathlon further inspired me.


Today I laced up my Adidas trail runners and ran for the first time in a long time. I made it 15 minutes without stopping and wore no watch (my Timex Ironman is lost) but did carry my cell to at least have an idea of time run. I felt great then shitty, then great then shitty. Same as it always is. I wore no IPOD, I wanted to get my breathing in sync with the movement of the rest of my body. When I found myself running the tangents instinctively, I chuckled and decided to run the curves. I'm a pretty relaxed runner, i carry my arms relaxed and I'm pretty efficient but damn if my legs didn't feel like tree stumps! Not the same as when you transition from the bike to the run but towards the end they were leaden.

We'll see how I feel tomorrow. My goal is to run at least 4 days a week but I'll start at 3 days

October TRUCKIN' Pimpin

I've only been playing a little poker lately. As the Sheryl Crow song goes: "A Change will do you Good" . Instead, I've been reading and watching alot of the new TV season including college and NFL football. Something, I haven't done much of over the last four years.

When I am playing poker, I'm hungry and focused. I final tabled my last live tourney just about two weeks ago (cash bubble girl) and I finished 432nd of 13626 trying to win a piece of MDM (Million Dollar Man) David "Chino" Rheem. I missed a piece of Chino (top 100 get .01% of his winnings) but did convert 500 FPP's into $31.50 of cold hard cash. I'm about 70 FPP's short of trying for a piece of another MDM. My choice would be the Ruskie Ivan Demidov who did the unthinkable, he final tabled the WSOP Main event still to be played and final tabled the WSOP-Europe Main Event.

I noticed Pokerstars has these new double or nothing SNGs. Kind of like the bankroll builders on Bodog or Cake Poker. In this case no graduated payments for the top 5 instead top 5 finishers of ten earn just about their buyin back. Seems to me to be a +EV way to build a bankroll.

One of my favorite ways to spend a day off rainy or otherwise is in a bookstore. I'm a fast reader without utilizing speed reading techniques. When my attention span or lifestyle kept me from reading full length magnum opi, magazines and short stories could still command my attention. So it is fitting that for the first time I pimp Truckin' on my blog. Some of my favorite poker bloggers are regular contributers and show off their literary chops. If you enjoy the stories send Mr McGrupp an email to be added to the monthly ezine mailing list. You won't be disappointed.


Truckin' --- http://mcgtruckin.blogspot.com/

Truckin' - October 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 10

Welcome back to another issue.

1. Maisy Wednesday by Paul McGuire She always wore bright lipstick which brought out a little gleam in her lips. She frequently smiled, but never initiated any sort of conversation... More

2. Happy Anniversary by John 'Falstaff' Hartness As we stood outside the courthouse in our newly wedded bliss (which also somewhat resembled the look of people who have just survived a tornado, as it happened much faster than we expected) we decided that since Suzy didn't have to be at work for another couple of hours, we'd go have lunch. So we scraped together a few bucks and trundled over to a nearby McDonald's... More

3. A Lock of Bonnie Parker's Hair by Johnny Hughes They was real famous and in the newspapers and all robbing them banks, when banks were unpopular. I asked Bonnie for something to remember her by. We didn't have a pencil for an autograph. She pulled this little pair of scissors out of her purse and gave me this... a lock of her hair... More


4. Whiskey Kisses by Betty After Dark Held apart by distance and circumstance, brought together in soft voices, the pieces of who we are fill the room with every drink we pour. The gaps in our lives slowly closing as the light from the window crept into the room. There was something unavoidable that connected us, but the details were never as clear as they were this night.... More


5. What I Knew? by Dusty Rhodes Just walk up and ask her you idiot... You've been friends for four years... she doesn't have a date and either do you... Quit being a pussy and ask her... Christ dude... what are you nervous about... More


Peace!!!

NFL Week 5

My Week 5 picks:

>> TEN>> CAR>> CHI>> GB>> IND>> SD>> NYG>> WAS>> TB>> AZ>> DAL>> NE>> JAX>>>> Monday game>>>> NO>>>> POINTS - 40>>

Stats thru Week 4:

IG 39-21 (all three of my season long contests)

SNAKE5970 38-22

I'm hunkered down with Costco's yummo shrimp salad and a Trader Joe's Flourless Chocolate Cake.

CU (3-1) plays Texas (4 & 0 and ranked #5) at 7 PM on FSN.

I may try to win me a piece of David "Chino" Rheem thru the MDM thing on Pokerstars. I've played no poker since live Sunday.

I'm patiently waiting for my copy of Rocking the Cradle: Egypt '78 (2 Cd's and a DVD) plus Road trips IV From Egypt With Love. I ordered it as an early birthday present to myself thru Deadnet.

PHISH PHISH PHISH !!! to REUNITE

Go see Dr Pauly's post on Coventry