Maui Trip Report, pt. 1

I don't want to write anything about the Canucks-'Hawks series until it is over. Until then, I'll post a serialized trip report from my recent vacation - with pics to come.

2nd April

Get up early for 6 hr flight to Maui. Supposedly I'll be sitting next to sister, brother-in-law and 16 month-old nephew in bulkhead seats - more room to stretch out? yes please! - but they prove to be a myth. Bad beat.

I had resigned myself to long odds that Oliver would behave on the flight but he came through like a champion, much to the delight of everyone in the vicinity, as we gladly enjoyed the 7-to-1 shot. Only bad part of flight was about 1 hour's worth of fairly significant turbulence. Would happily have traded back the hour saved - we landed in just over 5 hours - for a smoother flight.

Somehow we spent 2.5 hours on arrival collecting baggage and picking up two rental cars. We then drove to . . . Costco. Yep, the first stop on a Hawaiian vacation was a giant store. Nothing says you're in Maui like Costco! This store was quite a bit different than the ones you'd find in Vancouver, though. Picked up essential supplies, then proceeded to posh resort. A spot of trouble with our room, but this was sorted out to our satisfaction and we settled in. (We soon found out the unit we were renting was for sale for a cool 1.4MM.) We spent a quiet evening getting the hang of the place and barbequed some burgers, than we turned in, ready to hit the beach the next day.

Escaping to paradise

I have been mulling over what to do with this space. Like many bloggers whose authorial voice has waned, my posting frequency has dropped to nearly nil. Since it's not 2005 and I no longer feel the need to try to post a lot about my poker adventures or record my halting steps towards proficiency at various forms of the game, I have been considering what other topics I might opt to write about here. I have a few ideas and once I've made some preparations, all six of you who still read this blog will hopefully be rewarded with some content of non-negligible value.

In the meantime, I'm happy to say that I'll be taking a family vacation in a week's time to Hawaii. It'll be my first time to that island paradise, and we're all set to stay at a very nice resort. I hope my nephew, who is fifteen months old, behaves on the flight. Other news of interest: my father, who is a few years older than this car enthusiast, and probably has even more disposable income than his fellow doctor to make frivolous purchases, will likely own one of these very soon. Needless to say, I have dibs on taking it out for a spin - my brother-in-law will have to get in line!

Sadly, I'll be an island away from this poker blogger when I'm vacationing, and it doesn't look as if I'll be able to hop over for a visit because our schedules don't mesh. I guess our next meeting will have to wait until Vegas in December.

I hope to fit in a round of golf whilst in Maui, so if anyone has any golf course suggestions, I'm all ears.

In the words of an English peasant

This brilliant scene from one of my all-time favourite movies resonates with me more than usual this week, since Sunday is my birthday - my 37th. And I'm starting to notice the onset of age. I've spotted some gray hair. Carpe diem!

At least no-one has yet called me ...

King Arthur: Old woman.
Dennis: Man.
King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
Dennis: I'm 37.
King Arthur: What?
Dennis: I'm 37. I'm not old.
King Arthur: Well I can't just call you "man".
Dennis: Well you could say "Dennis".
King Arthur: I didn't know you were called Dennis.
Dennis: Well you didn't bother to find out did you?
King Arthur: I did say sorry about the "old woman", but from behind you looked...
Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior.
King Arthur: Well I am king.
Dennis: Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.


Go watch the whole thing. And laugh your guts out. Or go see Spamalot, because it's nearly as awesome.

Musings on the year that was 2010 and some 2011 predictions

Here are some predictions for 2011, and a few thoughts on 2010.

I will lose ten pounds to reach my target weight of 165 lbs (which is what I was at back when I graduated high school).

I will achieve some much-needed professional development and move upwards, not laterally, in the coming months.

I will improve my endurance and run some 10K races this summer, hopefully breaking the 55-minute barrier.

The Vancouver Canucks - currently the best team in the NHL - will be Stanley Cup finalists for the first time since 1994. We will probably lose in heart-breaking fashion to the Pittsburgh Penguins because Sidney Crosby always finds a way to win. This will be a time where my sincere admiration for Crosby will (temporarily) turn to unvarnished hatred.

I will attend next December's blogger gathering in Las Vegas.

I will put more time and effort into crushing some local private NL/PLO cash games that I've recently discovered. I will likely play more online poker in 2011 than I did in 2010, sticking to lower stakes mixed games and PLO8 cash games and a few bloggaments. Bring on the next BBT, Al!

I will blog more (but it's likely poker won't be a regular topic unless the American online poker industry blows up in dramatic fashion).

Looking back on 2010, I have a lot to be thankful for. I significantly improved my fitness, I saw the most famous international goal in Canadian hockey in my lifetime from 40 feet away (my DOB is post-Summit Series), and most importantly of all, my close family is all in good health and grew by one with the birth of my nephew Oliver, who recently turned one on December 30th.

Two words: whisky night

The long hot dry summer is over.

A night out with father, brother-in-law, and brother-in-law's father (visiting from Scotland) put paid to the mostly alcohol-free summer. We spent a night out having a good meal followed by the real treat of the evening, sampling a great many expensive offerings of Scotland's finest export in Vancouver's best gastropub - none of your Irish or American or Canadian inferior offerings for this party of four, if you please (the menu had a full page of single malts; there was about seven or eight Irish whiskeys on the back page, and a few North American and Japanese).

My favourite - we sampled about twenty, accompanied by a tasty cheese plate, some sausage and french fries - was a classic offering: a 16 year-old Lagavulin. But if you pressed me, I'd have cast a strong second-place vote for the 15 year-old Bruichladdich. Or my perennial favorite, Caol Ila (a real fire-starter, an 8 year-old with over 64% alcohol content), could have taken pride of place. Or there was this very good recommendation by the bar manager ...

I'm glad we thought ahead and booked a cab for the trip home.

Dog days of summer

I will seize on any lame excuse for my lack of blogging. Hot summer weather is a good one.

Despite the summer heat, I've managed to break through a running plateau. Some proper new running shoes and a new venue - which incidentally was a training track for Roger Bannister's 1954 four-minute mile at the Commonwealth Games - have furnished added motivation to my exercise program. I've managed to crack the six-minute barrier (km) for my half-hour runs (total distance just over 5K). I hope by next summer to be doing 10K runs at that pace or better.

Haven't been playing any poker due to lack of inspiration. If I can't play close to my best, there's no point in playing. This means I should be a complete degen in December at the WPBG . . . isn't poker blogger money the best? I'm on track to meet my target weight of 165 lbs, but losing the first 15 was easier than the remaining 15 will be. I wonder if anyone else is going to make their weight?

Nephew is just about 7 months old. A new purchase which has been a big hit is a wading pool.

One of my favourite all-time baseball players entered the Hall of Fame yesterday. Here's a tip of the cap to Andre Dawson. Hopefully his former Expos teammate Tim Raines won't be far behind.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

It's been a lazy summer so far, and not entirely by choice.

Injured my foot somehow; haven't been able to run for past ten days or so. Disappointing, because I'd broken through a plateau and was chewing up more distance in my 30 minute runs. I hope to be back at it either Wednesday or Friday, though.

My nephew will reach the 6-month mark tomorrow, and as a doting uncle I babysit every chance I get to spoil him shamelessly and leave all the responsibilities to the parents.

Poker hasn't been so fun lately - I used up some of my unused stockpile of FTP points to earn T$, and proceeded to bubble a slew of SNGs for zero profit, but I'm reminded why I like Rush Poker when I play just long enough to hold up in spots like this (having 55% equity in a 3-way AIPF pot is hard to do in Omaha!):

Fitness Goals

As time marches on I figure I should provide a brief update on the weight loss bet that I've really been taking seriously from the get-go. I plan on attending this year's WBG in December after a one-year hiatus, and there's something on the line as I've pledged to reach a target weight of 75 kilos - which is what I tipped the scales at way back in 1992 when I graduated from high school. I'm pleased to report that I'm well on my way there, having weighed in today at 80 kilos. Running three times a week and hitting the gym another couple of times per week since February has done the trick, along with much improved nutrition. When I began my running program it was all I could do to wheeze through ten-minutes stretches at a laughably slow pace; now I'm able to run about 5km in 30 minutes. Not exactly a 4 minute mile pace but pretty respectable by my way of thinking (at least for now). This time next year I hope to be able to run 10K in under 50 minutes.

I plan to hit the ice again for weekly hockey games in the fall; it's been several years since I've played organized hockey and given how I'm feeling I am pretty optimistic that I'll have the cardiovascular fitness to seamlessly pretend I'm an NHL'er. I just hope my hands haven't completely lost their touch; I used to play hockey at a pretty high level back when I was a teenager. Only time will tell if I'm delusional.

Running to stand still, and yet more scooping

Today was not a fun day, but it did end on a good note. The morning was spent in very fine weather doing a charity 5K run. Of course, I failed my orientation skill check and proceeded to run about 7K since the route was not well marked in two crucial spots. So needless to say I was able to ignore my posted time of finish and grumpily proceeded to stuff my face with refreshments once I finally arrived at the finish line.

The afternoon brought some fussy work as I struggled to proofread a manuscript for a project I've left way behind schedule. I was distracted and still need to do a lot of work on it before it sees the light of day, and the deadline is looming.

I then proceeded to donk off my chips in the BBT5 freeroll, getting away from several second-best hands with a minimum of damage. I was never able to get my stack back above its starting amount, and I foolishly dusted off my respectably-sized stack when I made the mistake of trying to get a blogger - in this case, the estimable Numb to fold top pair. Needless to say this is just not a good idea.

And then I proceeded to get stomped when I played some cash games afterwards. Some Rush NLHE, no good. Some Rush PLO, which had been recommended to me by several trustworthy sources? No good. +2 buy-ins to begin with but soon enough I would lose some monster hands where I made the correct decisions but just couldn't hold up despite having the best of it. Five buy-ins later and I was stuck three overall.

Then I found the reliable cure: a mixed game, this time a juicy HORSE table. How juicy? Yet another example of a scoop as I played two rotations for a nice +2 buy-ins to end the night with the BR stabilized back to an acceptable level. My hourly rate in this game was fairly impressive!

We pick up the action on 4th street in - what else? - a stud hi/lo hand. The pot was inflated on 3rd as four of us got here after capping the action for four bets each. (I got a bit out of line but I knew V1 was a complete maniac)

Dealt to V1 [5c] [4h]
Dealt to V2 [9c] [6c]
Dealt to Hero [8c Ad 6h] [7s]
Dealt to V3 [Jh] [Qd]

Each person put in one more bet.

On 5th:

Dealt to V1 [5c 4h] [Jd]
Dealt to V2 [9c 6c] [Kh]
Dealt to Hero [8c Ad 6h 7s] [5d]
Dealt to V3 [Jh Qd] [Th]

I bet with a made low and an OESD, everyone called.

On 6th:

Dealt to V1 [5c 4h Jd] [4s]
Dealt to V2 [9c 6c Kh] [6d]
Dealt to Hero [8c Ad 6h 7s 5d] [4c]
Dealt to V3 [Jh Qd Th] [Jc]

V3 bets out, the other two call, I raise with my straight and made low, they all call. I'm showing four to a straight and a made low and they are all determined to see 7th! I'm sure you all see what's happening here, besides noticing that I am very lucky to have made a two-way hand here. Again, everyone else is playing for half.

On 7th, the following took place:

V1 bet. V2 called. Our hero raised. V3 folded. V1 3-bet all-in. V2 called. I 4-bet. V2 called.

At showdown, I tabled my eight-high straight and 76 low for a scoop.

V2 mucked [As Ac 9c 6c Kh 6d Ts] - HI: two pair, Aces and Sixes
V1 mucked [Ah 8s 5c 4h Jd 4s 3h] - HI: a pair of Fours; LO: 8,5,4,3,A

We can clearly see that V2 has some fundamental flaws to correct in his game. V1 got taken for a ride and stubbornly lost some extra bets that he didn't have to on the later streets, much to my benefit. Yours truly continues to get lucky with some marginal hands in just the right situations to play them.

The same lessons apply that I mentioned in my previous post.


Hopefully my next 5K run at the end of the month is on a course I can't get lost in.

A belated New Year's Resolution

I've recently begun an exercise program because I was very unhappy with how much I'd let my fitness level deteriorate over the past four or five years. As I get older I've also realized that it takes more work to stay fit (duh!), so I've been complaining and grousing about this to my running partners as we train for a 10K run in May. Once I reach that goal, though, I know I need to set another one for later in the year. (Also I'm getting back on the ice and can't stand how much my hockey skills have atrophied. They say one's hands are the first thing to go but for me it's all cardiovascular weakness.)

I figure this means I should take another go at a weight loss target for year-end. I tried this in the summer of '09 but unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to Vegas in December to resolve the bet. History is not going to repeat itself -- I'll be making the trip this time around -- so I'll offer the same bet for any poker blogger who also wants extra motivation to shed some flab.

I currently weigh 83 kilos. My target is 75 kilos, which means I need to lose 1 kilo per month to reach 75 in time for the Winter Gathering.

So, who else is interested? Once we have a group of people signed up (please include personal goals when you sign up in the comments) we can decide on the stakes and figure out the weight-in. I'm sure someone will volunteer to adjudicate this bet and laugh at those who fail.

My next car

I can dream, can't I? I might face competition from this guy.

The day after

I'm never going to forget February 28, 2010.

Apparently a few Americans watched the men's hockey gold medal game along with me and the other 18 thousand or so live spectators at Canada Hockey Place.

Of course, on a per-capita basis this event shattered all domestic records: on average, nearly half the Candian population watched the entire game (just under 17 million people), and 80% of the population watched part of the game. Eighty percent!

Some of my American friends have congratulated me on the result -- for which I am quite appreciative (I should take the time here to compliment the American team; they have nothing to be ashamed of and they should hold their heads high after having such a phenomenal tournament in Canada's home rink, and what's more their team plays a very Canadian style with all of the attributes we prize so highly in our own players). A couple have followed up by saying "Hey, go ahead and celebrate, this is your Super Bowl". I suppose that's a reasonable statement from their point of view, but it doesn't really come close to approximating just how important this game was to me and the rest of Canada. This New York Times piece does a fair job of describing hockey's place in Canada's psyche; I'm one of those who strapped on a pair of skates when I was 3 years old and began playing hockey before I turned five.

The Cold War is over; this game might not have the geo-political dimensions of the '72 Summit Series but I can say I was fifty feet away from the action when Sidney Crosby scored the most important goal of my lifetime. Crosby has had an amazing eight months: he's won the Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal all before his 23rd birthday.

After the game - I really didn't want to leave the building, but officials cleared it away promptly as they wanted to get people over to the closing ceremonies on time - I walked with my dad through downtown to reach his office's underground parking lot. Neither of us could stop smiling. We waved at the people screaming from balconies above us. We high-fived complete strangers singing O Canada. The scene was pure bedlam - I hope to upload a few pictures we took of the crowds - and in fact at one point I feared for public safety as we got separated in the crush at Granville and Robson as the crowd grew a bit unruly.

To wrap up I'll use a crude analogy: let's say you were a Chicago Cubs fan and your team finally won the World Series, and they did so at Wrigley Field against the hated New York Yankees. Then imagine that your national identity was contained within the state of Illinois and you and your fellow citizens only cared about baseball and nothing else.

Hockey is Canada's religion.

I'm never going to forget February 28, 2010.

Gold

I have a ticket to the gold medal game. That is all.

I might just have the best parents in the world. What a stealth birthday present.

NB. I'll take action on the game (prop bets, drinks, whatever) to be paid up at next Vegas blogger gathering I attend. Post a comment if you want in.

A quiet January

I haven't blogged at all this month.

So, here are a few observations from what has been a very busy month:

the Olympics are going to feature a lot of genuine excitement, but at a very high cost to the BC taxpayer;

the city's inhabitants (read: not visitors) will probably riot if Canada's men's hockey team doesn't win the gold medal (after all, that's what happened when the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in '94);

my nephew Oliver is a real handful and if he grows up to the size I expect, the Canucks will draft him in 2028 (I'l be reponsible for teaching him to skate in a couple of years);

I'll probably treat myself to a session of live PLO for my birthday in a couple of weeks (but the Olympic traffic jams will certainly make it difficult).

NB. The Canucks are really, really good this year. We might well get a change to avenge last year's loss to the Blackhawks in the playoffs. Which means I'll likely have some bets on the series and try to get even myself!

A late Christmas present

I'm a first-time uncle. My nephew, named Oliver (seen above in the arms of his maternal grandmother), was nearly two weeks overdue before making a loud appearance into the world the morning of December 30th, and he was a hefty 10 lbs 7 ounces. Both he and her mother (my younger sister) are doing fine after a stressful delivery and a tense couple of days.

I have to admit, this makes me reconsider my stance not to become a parent (let's ignore all the necessary intermediate steps for that to happen! I'm indulging in sentimentality). I'm very proud of everyone involved.

Bonus pic!

A fiasco in the offing

I haven't blogged about the Olympics much, and that is going to change significantly as Vancouver is gearing up for the mayhem that is going to ensue.

Be it resolved that: the upcoming Winter Olympics will, inevitably, be a fiscal disaster of monumental proportions for the city of Vancouver.

The city has already lost a big lawsuit to displaced businesses who were harmed by three years of bad planning, dishonesty, and awful decisions relating to a major construction project which tore up a main artery of the city. Many businesses relocated or failed because of the delays ... and the courts quite properly found the city to be at fault. As you might have guessed, the decision is under appeal, but the defendants have had to pay interim damages.

And don't get me started at what the province chose to do in upgrading the Sea to Sky highway. A much more progressive, efficient, and greener option was ignored: build a traditional rail line to Whistler which goes right to downtown Vancouver. As an avid skier, I can swear that the convenience offered by this option would have been embraced by many during the winter months, reduce traffic on the picturesque but dangerous highway in adverse driving conditions, and would not have been more expensive than the final bill for the highway upgrades that BC taxpayers will be responsible for.


All this being said, I'm honest enough to admit that had I won tickets to the men's gold medal hockey game, I would probably feel the pain of future tax bills a little less keenly.

Motivation? A prop bet is in order

Resolution: turn back the clock and regain youthful fitness.

Additional motivation: seeing a friend and fellow blogger blow a fuse about excess weight.

Solution: a prop bet.

Objective: Shed flab;

Terms: Weigh-in either at next Winter Gathering (if both parties attend) or January 1st, 2010 (with results verified by acceptable third party);

Targets: PL needs to weigh in at 160 lbs; Riggs 220 lbs;

Stakes: If either party fails to make their target weight, they will give the other party a bottle of single malt Scotch of the other's choosing (price limit TBD).

If anyone else wants to participate, please drop me a line in the comments and I'll add you to the bet.

Who needs agility?

Life keeps throwing curveballs; or

I took a duck to the face at two hundred and fifty knots.

I won't be defending this pirate ...

No, I'd find myself hauled up on charges if I ever found the thief who stole my bike yesterday.

I'm not a happy camper, to say the least, and this is going to stick in my craw for a while.

(Ironically, it was stolen from a bike rack in front of the Law Society. Walking outside to discover the shredded lock lying on the ground all by its lonesome, ruined self was not a fun moment.)

Summer musings

June has been a strange month so far.

The good:

Vancouver weather has been great and I've been playing a lot of disc golf.

An old friend has moved back to town, escaping from a bad job in the rural wilds of Alberta.

My sister and her husband just purchased a new condo and I had some fun pouring over all the documents as a refresher in solicitor's work in a real property transaction.

I hear this local blogger has actually done some wheeling and dealing for a change. Who knows if he'll blog again any time soon though.

The bad:

My fourth live session of LHE went south in a hurry. -40BBs as I lost all five big pots I played with sets and overpairs that got run down. (On the plus side, the game was fantastic and it was variance that did me in, not my decision-making.)

I got my car towed by parking oh, five meters from an intersection near my place yesterday (the law says park 6+ meters away). Of the 15k illegally-parked vehicles in my neighbourhood, I got picked on. A fun $112.90 siphoned out of my pocket.


The "meh":

Still no concrete developments as I am looking to change jobs. Don't want to defend pirates - I mean, criminals - any longer so that means I am kicking the tires elsewhere and waiting to hear back on some leads. But I should have this sorted out by the end of the summer.