Bleh...
This is my current emotion...just tired for no reason. I just pulled into Scranton, PA and "The Office" theme went off in my head. I thought that was funny. Just watched the hour long Christmas special from last night, and there were some amazingly funny moments. Check it out if you can.
Maybe I'm tired because of my resurgence of going to the gym again. It's been a while admittedly, but I feel good every time I go and it's hard to turn that down. I'm getting older now, (my birthday was yesterday) and maybe time is just catching up to me.
I feel awful for Will and Erin in Seattle who have no power and no way of personal transport. My thoughts go out to them in this, the hardest of times.
In other news, NO, I haven't returned my phone yet. I actually love it and plan on keeping it the full 2 years until something better comes along.
Back to my birthday, I had a great time with all my friends from the show in Binghamton, NY. I got presents in the mail from Karen and her parents which were much appreciated. Thanks baby!
I didn't realize how many people that go to school there are from Long Island, and I met quite a few. Then we came back and a few of us watched Jackass 2 that I got online earlier this week. Overall a great birthday!
Ok, off to the mall and soundcheck, and then I'm hanging out with Pete and Jess tonight. Happy times!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Guess who's back?
Well well well...I know it took a long time but I'm back with plenty of things to write about. I'm a little hopped up on cough medicine right now so my attention is waning. Bear with me.
Tour has been going really well overall. Great people, great audiences, great show. Since the last post, we've been through the Carolinas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, UMASS (we played where the Minutemen play), Maine, and West Virginia.
So far we've had 3 individual shows canceled, which is fine with us as it doesn't affect our pay and we get to do less work. AKA - The American Dream. When we were in Maine, a girl in the show caught an ad for Bob Saget doing his stand up show at a college gym in Lewiston, ME. She promptly rented a car and I was lucky enough to snag a seat in it to get to the show. It was a random night to say the least, getting lost in Maine and such. By the way, Portland is a really cool city.
Backing up to UMASS, we were scheduled to have a show Mon, Tues and Wed night. Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled by the presenter and Thursday was a travel day leaving us with Nov. 7th 8th 9th off! Now, I'm sure you all remember Nov. 7th really well. Democrats across the country rejoiced, because Guitar Hero 2 came out, and we took the House and Senate!
Someone found a way to take the best game ever created...and make it better. I didn't think it could be done, but in every facet, they made the game better. Do yourself a favor and spend the best $200 of your life on a PS2 and a GH2 Bundle.
In other news, I openend up an ING Orange account online, and find it to be very financially sound. I've saved up some money so far without having to do much really. Just auto transfers every week and it couldn't be simpler. I've also referred some people on tour to be able to do the same thing too. If anyone's interested in saving more money, email me and I'll tell you all about it.
On to Thanksgiving. We were supposed to have the past week in DC, but we were told we were cancelled the Tuesday before we were to go there. We finished our week in Philly, then the company flew me to Chicago to hang out with Karen where she's doing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Met some of her family in Chicago at her grandmother's house for Thanksgiving dinner, had a great time.
Friday I flew home to Long Island and spent the day at home just hanging out, but found a card game later that night. The place that I usually play at, closed while I was gone. So I called my friend to find out where people were playing. Did well for the night, but made 2 huge errors, that I honestly should just know better. Left +$130 for the night, not stellar, considering how much I should've been up.
We played till 9am then I went home to sleep till 1230. Then Maureen and I drove up to Pound Ridge to see Jennifer, Patrick and the kids. I really miss them and it was great to have them there instead of on the phone. I'll be seeing them in January when I play the town right next to theirs. That'll be a fun weekend indeed.
Sunday I didn't move from my chair more than 5 times the whole day, due to a football coma. I always have Sunday matinees so I NEVER get to watch live football. This was like Christmas in November. This coupled with the fact that my Fantasy team is really starting to heat up. I was quietly winning 75% of my games this season till I got murdered 2 weeks in a row and was an underdog, going into this week. Donovan McNabb, Ronnie Brown, Kevin Jones, all hurt. I did some studying (and some gambling) on who I thought would be good options and I was able to win decisively this week and have the 1st place guy, lose. Now tied for 1st with 2 weeks to go, we play each other this week, in what should be a crazy matchup. I'm almost too excited for words.
Right now I'm in Pensacola, FL and I'm a little under the weather. I've been coughing for about 3 weeks now, and not once have I tried medicine or a doctor. Now I pay the price. I pulled a muscle in my chest this morning coughing, and now the middle of my chest plate is reeeeeeeeally sore. Overall I just feel achy. We all went out for Kasey's birthday (my roomate/boss) and today is kind of a recovery day. I'm in the hotel bed ready to nap as I write this.
I'll leave you with another classic Gregg story. Never being happy with the current technology and being eligible for a $100 discount towards a new cell phone can be troublesome. That coupled with Verizon's 15 day worry-free guarantee leads to me exploiting the living hell out of a loophole. Since Oct. 23, I'm now on my 3rd phone.
The 1st was the Motorola Q. While it was a nice phone, I didn't need the Data Plan to do what I do, and the cost per month was too high. I really just wanted something fancy and grabbed the sleekest thing I could. I returned that about 13 days later and went back to my old phone.
Then in Philly, I was bored one day. On days where we just have 1 show at night, I find myself to be stir crazy during the day. Anyway, we stayed 1/2 block away from a Verizon Store, and I really liked the White Chocolate. The phone is really sleek looking and has a great resolution screen and a nice camera. But after another 13 days (and dropping it in my soup) the touch sensitive controls were a little too much for me. I would try to send a text message and it would move options over the to the right instead of "enter". Stuff like that. I didn't think I would be happy with the phone for the next 2 years of my life, so I gave it up on the exact date that the phone I've been waiting for since October, finally came out.
The LG9900, or the en-V. (jealous?) It's the update from the last year and basically it's a regular phone up front but it flips on its side to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2MP camera. The screen is a nice resolution and the pictures look amazing. I'm finally happy with a new phone, and not just settling anymore, which feels nice.
Well, it's time for a nap now before the show. This was fun, perhaps I'll get back to the habit of doing this a little more often...
Well well well...I know it took a long time but I'm back with plenty of things to write about. I'm a little hopped up on cough medicine right now so my attention is waning. Bear with me.
Tour has been going really well overall. Great people, great audiences, great show. Since the last post, we've been through the Carolinas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, UMASS (we played where the Minutemen play), Maine, and West Virginia.
So far we've had 3 individual shows canceled, which is fine with us as it doesn't affect our pay and we get to do less work. AKA - The American Dream. When we were in Maine, a girl in the show caught an ad for Bob Saget doing his stand up show at a college gym in Lewiston, ME. She promptly rented a car and I was lucky enough to snag a seat in it to get to the show. It was a random night to say the least, getting lost in Maine and such. By the way, Portland is a really cool city.
Backing up to UMASS, we were scheduled to have a show Mon, Tues and Wed night. Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled by the presenter and Thursday was a travel day leaving us with Nov. 7th 8th 9th off! Now, I'm sure you all remember Nov. 7th really well. Democrats across the country rejoiced, because Guitar Hero 2 came out, and we took the House and Senate!
Someone found a way to take the best game ever created...and make it better. I didn't think it could be done, but in every facet, they made the game better. Do yourself a favor and spend the best $200 of your life on a PS2 and a GH2 Bundle.
In other news, I openend up an ING Orange account online, and find it to be very financially sound. I've saved up some money so far without having to do much really. Just auto transfers every week and it couldn't be simpler. I've also referred some people on tour to be able to do the same thing too. If anyone's interested in saving more money, email me and I'll tell you all about it.
On to Thanksgiving. We were supposed to have the past week in DC, but we were told we were cancelled the Tuesday before we were to go there. We finished our week in Philly, then the company flew me to Chicago to hang out with Karen where she's doing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Met some of her family in Chicago at her grandmother's house for Thanksgiving dinner, had a great time.
Friday I flew home to Long Island and spent the day at home just hanging out, but found a card game later that night. The place that I usually play at, closed while I was gone. So I called my friend to find out where people were playing. Did well for the night, but made 2 huge errors, that I honestly should just know better. Left +$130 for the night, not stellar, considering how much I should've been up.
We played till 9am then I went home to sleep till 1230. Then Maureen and I drove up to Pound Ridge to see Jennifer, Patrick and the kids. I really miss them and it was great to have them there instead of on the phone. I'll be seeing them in January when I play the town right next to theirs. That'll be a fun weekend indeed.
Sunday I didn't move from my chair more than 5 times the whole day, due to a football coma. I always have Sunday matinees so I NEVER get to watch live football. This was like Christmas in November. This coupled with the fact that my Fantasy team is really starting to heat up. I was quietly winning 75% of my games this season till I got murdered 2 weeks in a row and was an underdog, going into this week. Donovan McNabb, Ronnie Brown, Kevin Jones, all hurt. I did some studying (and some gambling) on who I thought would be good options and I was able to win decisively this week and have the 1st place guy, lose. Now tied for 1st with 2 weeks to go, we play each other this week, in what should be a crazy matchup. I'm almost too excited for words.
Right now I'm in Pensacola, FL and I'm a little under the weather. I've been coughing for about 3 weeks now, and not once have I tried medicine or a doctor. Now I pay the price. I pulled a muscle in my chest this morning coughing, and now the middle of my chest plate is reeeeeeeeally sore. Overall I just feel achy. We all went out for Kasey's birthday (my roomate/boss) and today is kind of a recovery day. I'm in the hotel bed ready to nap as I write this.
I'll leave you with another classic Gregg story. Never being happy with the current technology and being eligible for a $100 discount towards a new cell phone can be troublesome. That coupled with Verizon's 15 day worry-free guarantee leads to me exploiting the living hell out of a loophole. Since Oct. 23, I'm now on my 3rd phone.
The 1st was the Motorola Q. While it was a nice phone, I didn't need the Data Plan to do what I do, and the cost per month was too high. I really just wanted something fancy and grabbed the sleekest thing I could. I returned that about 13 days later and went back to my old phone.
Then in Philly, I was bored one day. On days where we just have 1 show at night, I find myself to be stir crazy during the day. Anyway, we stayed 1/2 block away from a Verizon Store, and I really liked the White Chocolate. The phone is really sleek looking and has a great resolution screen and a nice camera. But after another 13 days (and dropping it in my soup) the touch sensitive controls were a little too much for me. I would try to send a text message and it would move options over the to the right instead of "enter". Stuff like that. I didn't think I would be happy with the phone for the next 2 years of my life, so I gave it up on the exact date that the phone I've been waiting for since October, finally came out.
The LG9900, or the en-V. (jealous?) It's the update from the last year and basically it's a regular phone up front but it flips on its side to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2MP camera. The screen is a nice resolution and the pictures look amazing. I'm finally happy with a new phone, and not just settling anymore, which feels nice.
Well, it's time for a nap now before the show. This was fun, perhaps I'll get back to the habit of doing this a little more often...
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Opening, and Florida
So I pulled into Sarasota, FL last night and had an uber expensive dinner at a seafood place and hung out on the beach till 1am. And someone pays me to do this...
I was just here at this same venue and hotel in December, and it's such a great vibe, everything is very peaceful.
We opened on Monday in Columbia, SC and while the first performance was a bit of a tech disaster, we pulled it off, and the crowd loved it. It's nice to know that the material alone in the show is enough to give the crowd a good time. Tuesday and Wednesday's shows went great, and we had yesterday off to get ready for the 5 show weekend starting tonight. My folks will be coming later today so it'll be really nice to see them and to have them see the show. See you guys soon!
So I pulled into Sarasota, FL last night and had an uber expensive dinner at a seafood place and hung out on the beach till 1am. And someone pays me to do this...
I was just here at this same venue and hotel in December, and it's such a great vibe, everything is very peaceful.
We opened on Monday in Columbia, SC and while the first performance was a bit of a tech disaster, we pulled it off, and the crowd loved it. It's nice to know that the material alone in the show is enough to give the crowd a good time. Tuesday and Wednesday's shows went great, and we had yesterday off to get ready for the 5 show weekend starting tonight. My folks will be coming later today so it'll be really nice to see them and to have them see the show. See you guys soon!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
A Packed Morning
Well, I'm here in Owensboro, KY, and back from Canada. Everything is going really well in rehearsal and we're getting close to running the complete show with everything. Exciting times indeed.
This morning Kasey, John (my two bosses) and I took our company car to get some food before rehearsal. I was going along minding my own business and a car comes across traffic making a left turn! I slammed on the brakes and swerved right, but still hit the car going about 20mph or so. We pulled over and a tiny frail old lady comes out and says she knows it was her fault but "I just got so tired waiting at that light! It just never changed!"
I kid you not, this was her first and only defense. Her next line "I guess that's what I get for going to church" was not helping in the least either. I just felt so bad for her, but clearly it was not my fault. I found a cop across the street and he straightened everything out. During this, Dycka called me to tell me a WR for my fantasy football team isn't playing this week and I should take him out. I didn't make it to the theater till 102pm EST and was unable to make the switch. Fearing the worst, I checked my score to see that thanks to McNabb and the Ravens defense, I have a very solid lead against my opponent with just his defense playing tomorrow night. Take that Gyros!
Well, I'll have some pics of my setup up tomorrow. Hope all is well, back soon!
Well, I'm here in Owensboro, KY, and back from Canada. Everything is going really well in rehearsal and we're getting close to running the complete show with everything. Exciting times indeed.
This morning Kasey, John (my two bosses) and I took our company car to get some food before rehearsal. I was going along minding my own business and a car comes across traffic making a left turn! I slammed on the brakes and swerved right, but still hit the car going about 20mph or so. We pulled over and a tiny frail old lady comes out and says she knows it was her fault but "I just got so tired waiting at that light! It just never changed!"
I kid you not, this was her first and only defense. Her next line "I guess that's what I get for going to church" was not helping in the least either. I just felt so bad for her, but clearly it was not my fault. I found a cop across the street and he straightened everything out. During this, Dycka called me to tell me a WR for my fantasy football team isn't playing this week and I should take him out. I didn't make it to the theater till 102pm EST and was unable to make the switch. Fearing the worst, I checked my score to see that thanks to McNabb and the Ravens defense, I have a very solid lead against my opponent with just his defense playing tomorrow night. Take that Gyros!
Well, I'll have some pics of my setup up tomorrow. Hope all is well, back soon!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Random ramblings from the Great White North
I'm on my way back to the States on Thursday, so that's some good news. In other good news, the CD that I recorded back in May in Philadelphia is finally done! 2 guys from the Oklahoma tour got together and did a country singer/songwriting team project. They asked me to play for the 12 tracks they were doing. I'm honestly very impressed with how the whole thing came together. You can check out the tracks at:
http://www.myspace.com/haroldbarnard2
It's probably because I had something to do with them, but I can't stop listening to the songs. Especially "Three Wise Men". That's got "hit" written all over it.
In other news, Karen visited this weekend and we had a great time. She left today and it was really sad to see her go. She'll be back in October before she goes out to do Radio City in Chicago and Boston. on a side note, we did manage to watch all 13 episodes of Arrested Development Season 3...in 2 days. If anyone has not seen this show, please do yourself a favor and get the DVDs. Easily the best writing and acting in any sitcom, ever, of all time, period. (Have I made my point?)
As for the show, rehearsals are going really well. We did 2 runs in the studio this weekend, and it's really starting to turn into something. I'm really excited to get it in front of an audience and hear their reactions. That's where the excitement will really start to set in.
Anything else? Oh yeah, I did manage to get the woman working at some Canadian clothing store here, to get a sweatshirt from a different store, because they were out of my size, and drop it off at my hotel tomorrow. This would NEVER happen in the USA.
Which brings me to something that I had totally forgotten to mention. The general politeness of everyone in Canada has been pretty amazing quite honestly. EXCEPT when you fail to obey every traffic law. Jaywalking for instance is taken quite seriously here. Not even by the police, just like regular people will shoot you nasty glances for crossing at the wrong time with NO cars around.
It's really weird. Kinda like the metric system. Well, on that note, I'll leave you with 2 pictures. The 1st is from the audition scene and the 2nd is of Max (Jason) Ulla (Elizabeth) and Leo (Austin). On that note, I'm gonna finish my 591mL of Coke and get ready for my 17 degree Celsius weather tomorrow.
I'm on my way back to the States on Thursday, so that's some good news. In other good news, the CD that I recorded back in May in Philadelphia is finally done! 2 guys from the Oklahoma tour got together and did a country singer/songwriting team project. They asked me to play for the 12 tracks they were doing. I'm honestly very impressed with how the whole thing came together. You can check out the tracks at:
http://www.myspace.com/haroldbarnard2
It's probably because I had something to do with them, but I can't stop listening to the songs. Especially "Three Wise Men". That's got "hit" written all over it.
In other news, Karen visited this weekend and we had a great time. She left today and it was really sad to see her go. She'll be back in October before she goes out to do Radio City in Chicago and Boston. on a side note, we did manage to watch all 13 episodes of Arrested Development Season 3...in 2 days. If anyone has not seen this show, please do yourself a favor and get the DVDs. Easily the best writing and acting in any sitcom, ever, of all time, period. (Have I made my point?)
As for the show, rehearsals are going really well. We did 2 runs in the studio this weekend, and it's really starting to turn into something. I'm really excited to get it in front of an audience and hear their reactions. That's where the excitement will really start to set in.
Anything else? Oh yeah, I did manage to get the woman working at some Canadian clothing store here, to get a sweatshirt from a different store, because they were out of my size, and drop it off at my hotel tomorrow. This would NEVER happen in the USA.
Which brings me to something that I had totally forgotten to mention. The general politeness of everyone in Canada has been pretty amazing quite honestly. EXCEPT when you fail to obey every traffic law. Jaywalking for instance is taken quite seriously here. Not even by the police, just like regular people will shoot you nasty glances for crossing at the wrong time with NO cars around.
It's really weird. Kinda like the metric system. Well, on that note, I'll leave you with 2 pictures. The 1st is from the audition scene and the 2nd is of Max (Jason) Ulla (Elizabeth) and Leo (Austin). On that note, I'm gonna finish my 591mL of Coke and get ready for my 17 degree Celsius weather tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Blame Canada!
Well, the first update in over a month and I have some pictures from the first couple days up here in Canada for the Producers tour! If you've seen the show, it's pretty cool to be here and see all of the B'way stuff that we're using.
All is well so far, we have a day off today (Wed.) so I'll be posting a more indepth report later on. Hope all is well!
Well, the first update in over a month and I have some pictures from the first couple days up here in Canada for the Producers tour! If you've seen the show, it's pretty cool to be here and see all of the B'way stuff that we're using.
All is well so far, we have a day off today (Wed.) so I'll be posting a more indepth report later on. Hope all is well!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Here's how I'm running
First hand last night.
AK in BB, UTG player raises to $6, a smallish raise for this game. It folds to the SB, a loose player who calls, I have AKd. UTG has $53 left. I elect to call. Flop: AK4. We check to the UTG player. He bets $12. SB folds, I call, planning to check raise the turn, or if he checks, make a value bet on the river. I check the 9 on the turn and he moves all in. I call of course, and whaddya know? He has AA.
Ok. Later on in the night, the SB from the previous hand announced that he wanted to put all his money in blind (about $80), and either double up or go home. I get KK, he limps, folds to my raise. I get AA he limps, calls my raise to $11. Flop is 245 with 2 diamonds. He checks, I bet 15. He's so ready to fold, and I tell him if he has any pair there, he's probably good. He sends his money in QUICK with Kd4s. Nice, I call. Turn 8d, river Jd. Oh wait, yup he has a flush. I'm actually playing really well the past 10 days, just getting super unlucky. Including a hand where I put in $225 each preflop with AA vs. KK. Flop K94. Yup, it's been one of those weeks.
Enjoy the video below if you haven't seen it yet. It's terrific.
First hand last night.
AK in BB, UTG player raises to $6, a smallish raise for this game. It folds to the SB, a loose player who calls, I have AKd. UTG has $53 left. I elect to call. Flop: AK4. We check to the UTG player. He bets $12. SB folds, I call, planning to check raise the turn, or if he checks, make a value bet on the river. I check the 9 on the turn and he moves all in. I call of course, and whaddya know? He has AA.
Ok. Later on in the night, the SB from the previous hand announced that he wanted to put all his money in blind (about $80), and either double up or go home. I get KK, he limps, folds to my raise. I get AA he limps, calls my raise to $11. Flop is 245 with 2 diamonds. He checks, I bet 15. He's so ready to fold, and I tell him if he has any pair there, he's probably good. He sends his money in QUICK with Kd4s. Nice, I call. Turn 8d, river Jd. Oh wait, yup he has a flush. I'm actually playing really well the past 10 days, just getting super unlucky. Including a hand where I put in $225 each preflop with AA vs. KK. Flop K94. Yup, it's been one of those weeks.
Enjoy the video below if you haven't seen it yet. It's terrific.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Pics from the cruise
Cruise Pictures
Enjoy!
I'm going to type up a trip report but I'm really lazy right now. I will tell you I got into a "discussion" at the poker table that almost lead to an altercation. That should be enough to whet your collective appetites.
Cruise Pictures
Enjoy!
I'm going to type up a trip report but I'm really lazy right now. I will tell you I got into a "discussion" at the poker table that almost lead to an altercation. That should be enough to whet your collective appetites.
Friday, June 09, 2006
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Well, this week I've taken a beating in the game of poker. I won't bore you with results, but since I'm off this whole month from work, my vacation if you will, I've tried to play about 4 nights a week. Basically I'm ahead a little for the 2 weeks, but man oh man has it been rough.
But the good news is....Karen and I leave for our cruise on Sunday! We're so excited to just leave everything and have fun for 6 days. I'll post pictures when we get back.
Also, you tech guys, I want to post a copy of my schedule for The Producers tour so my family/friends can see where I'll be at any given time. Only problem is I don't know where to put it up online. Can you guys help me?
Well, this week I've taken a beating in the game of poker. I won't bore you with results, but since I'm off this whole month from work, my vacation if you will, I've tried to play about 4 nights a week. Basically I'm ahead a little for the 2 weeks, but man oh man has it been rough.
But the good news is....Karen and I leave for our cruise on Sunday! We're so excited to just leave everything and have fun for 6 days. I'll post pictures when we get back.
Also, you tech guys, I want to post a copy of my schedule for The Producers tour so my family/friends can see where I'll be at any given time. Only problem is I don't know where to put it up online. Can you guys help me?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 3246300
I've decided to take part in this to try and snag a free seat at the WSOP. Can't hurt to try no? If you decide to try also, tell them that you were referred by www.greggm.blogspot.com. I have no idea if I get anything from that by the way. Wow, I've tried to edit this text above but I can't get it to not go into the sidebar. I could probably fix it, but I'm lazy and just got in from another cash game.
Quick results: 5/30 +$170; 5/31 -$90. Sickest hand was when I made trip K's on the river but the K was the Kd that completed a flush on the board. Could have probably lost less on the hand, but I didn't, lost the max. Never really got any hands after that. Game was a little too aggressive for me, I prefer to be the agressor. Won't be going back there, too many other easy games to beat up on.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
A great few days
Starting with Thursday, I finally got the official call from the company, and they offered me The Producers tour for the next year! I've been assuming that I'd be getting the call for a couple weeks now, so it's a huge relief to actually just have it over with. I'll be starting rehearsals in the city August 28th and living there hopefully until we leave Sep. 14th for the tour. Unfortunatly our first break is only for a week and it isn't until May. Long time, yes. On the good side we'll be having a lot of week long sitdowns, so Karen can come out and visit. Also, we'll be doing alot of cities that I didn't do on Oklahoma, like 6 weeks in Canada, which I'm really excited about.
Friday was great because I only had a morning show for a school group, giving me my first Friday night off since January! Having no show until Saturday night, I took advantage of the situation and went to go see The Wedding Singer in NYC. Kudos to Karen for getting us the ol' Student Discount for $26, and front row to boot! She's so awesome!
The show was ehhh...could be better. Lot of really easy 80's jokes that, in my opinion, were just results of lazy writing. There were basically no setups to the jokes, just really obvious references to song lyrics and pop culture. (Ex. A wall street scene, buisness exec says "Seriously, is anyone ever going to pay $3 for a cup of coffee?" Immediatly followed by "NEW Coke? Buy as many shares as you can get your hands on!" Ugh...)
Saturday I came home in the afternoon and met up with Phil for a delicious lunch at Fridays. He told me that the card club he works at had a Freeroll tournament at 4. Not having a show until 830 I decided to check it out. You get T2000 chips for free, and there's $20 rebuys for the first hour, blinds are 15 min long. I rebought right away and paid $5 for another T500 to go to the "dealer pool", a sort of pretip for the dealers. So basically I started the tourney with 4500 chips. I had my chips all in at one point with KQ vs. AK and 55. The flop came K83, then 8 8...whew, split pot! When Phil was dealing, I limped with QT on the button and flopped top two pair. I bet the pot of 3000 and got one caller. The turn bricked and I moved him in for 7000. He did the "look at the clock and 'I want to go home anyway'" routine and called with KJ for an open ended straight draw. Phil smashed a 9 on the river for me to leave me short. I was able to steal some pots and not really see showdowns and get back up to 11k. I did a double add on for $40 and jumped up to 17k at the break. Soon afterwards, we made the final table and they posted the prize breakdown: $755, $455, $310.
Just like the books say, things tightened up considerably as everyone was frightened to put money in the pot. I stole some pots as there was 6K just there for the taking each time. I stole about 3 times and then there was a raise to 13k from the chipleader directly to my right with the blinds at 1k/2k. I find AA and decide to move in for 31300. Folds around to him and he makes the fastest call with 33. I win and double up. It's at this point that I realize with these chips and the other people's styles, I have to get really unlucky to LOSE this tournament.
Same sort of situation as before happened again. There was a raise preflop and I get Kk this time. I move in again and he calls with KQh. I win that one too and we're down to 9. This helps the image even more, because now they've seen the cards I've had and any raise will be respected. I steal a bunch more pots and when we get to 5, a player decides to ask for a deal for 4th and 5th. $50 off the top 2 spots to go to them. We all agree and have now made the money. I could care less about anything but first though. I knock out the 5th place person with AT against his QJ preflop. Then I get the 4th place guy with 77 vs. his A9. 3rd place is also knocked out by me with T6o on a TT5 board. We both checked the flop. A K hit the turn and he checked so I bet 10k, he went all in for 23k, I called and he had Kx. Now heads up, I had about 146K to 100K. The blinds were 5k/10k now, but I had a small dilemma. It was 7:30 and I had a show in an hour. I still had to get home, change and get to the theater in an hour from 109 in Lindenhurst/Deer Park area. I offered a deal of $620/$500 in favor of me which he decided to "play a few more hands." I lost 2 of the next 8 hands, both preflop, and increased my chiplead due to his ability of calling 25k preflop and then folding on whatever board I bet. When I had close to 200K the other player asked if I wanted the deal. I knew I had him on the ropes but I wasn't in the place to argue, seeing as I had to go. I accepted and claimed the $620 prize, my biggest tournament win to date. I tipped the dealing staff $40, roughly 6% of my winnings, leaving me +$515 for the day.
Like I said, a great couple of days...
Starting with Thursday, I finally got the official call from the company, and they offered me The Producers tour for the next year! I've been assuming that I'd be getting the call for a couple weeks now, so it's a huge relief to actually just have it over with. I'll be starting rehearsals in the city August 28th and living there hopefully until we leave Sep. 14th for the tour. Unfortunatly our first break is only for a week and it isn't until May. Long time, yes. On the good side we'll be having a lot of week long sitdowns, so Karen can come out and visit. Also, we'll be doing alot of cities that I didn't do on Oklahoma, like 6 weeks in Canada, which I'm really excited about.
Friday was great because I only had a morning show for a school group, giving me my first Friday night off since January! Having no show until Saturday night, I took advantage of the situation and went to go see The Wedding Singer in NYC. Kudos to Karen for getting us the ol' Student Discount for $26, and front row to boot! She's so awesome!
The show was ehhh...could be better. Lot of really easy 80's jokes that, in my opinion, were just results of lazy writing. There were basically no setups to the jokes, just really obvious references to song lyrics and pop culture. (Ex. A wall street scene, buisness exec says "Seriously, is anyone ever going to pay $3 for a cup of coffee?" Immediatly followed by "NEW Coke? Buy as many shares as you can get your hands on!" Ugh...)
Saturday I came home in the afternoon and met up with Phil for a delicious lunch at Fridays. He told me that the card club he works at had a Freeroll tournament at 4. Not having a show until 830 I decided to check it out. You get T2000 chips for free, and there's $20 rebuys for the first hour, blinds are 15 min long. I rebought right away and paid $5 for another T500 to go to the "dealer pool", a sort of pretip for the dealers. So basically I started the tourney with 4500 chips. I had my chips all in at one point with KQ vs. AK and 55. The flop came K83, then 8 8...whew, split pot! When Phil was dealing, I limped with QT on the button and flopped top two pair. I bet the pot of 3000 and got one caller. The turn bricked and I moved him in for 7000. He did the "look at the clock and 'I want to go home anyway'" routine and called with KJ for an open ended straight draw. Phil smashed a 9 on the river for me to leave me short. I was able to steal some pots and not really see showdowns and get back up to 11k. I did a double add on for $40 and jumped up to 17k at the break. Soon afterwards, we made the final table and they posted the prize breakdown: $755, $455, $310.
Just like the books say, things tightened up considerably as everyone was frightened to put money in the pot. I stole some pots as there was 6K just there for the taking each time. I stole about 3 times and then there was a raise to 13k from the chipleader directly to my right with the blinds at 1k/2k. I find AA and decide to move in for 31300. Folds around to him and he makes the fastest call with 33. I win and double up. It's at this point that I realize with these chips and the other people's styles, I have to get really unlucky to LOSE this tournament.
Same sort of situation as before happened again. There was a raise preflop and I get Kk this time. I move in again and he calls with KQh. I win that one too and we're down to 9. This helps the image even more, because now they've seen the cards I've had and any raise will be respected. I steal a bunch more pots and when we get to 5, a player decides to ask for a deal for 4th and 5th. $50 off the top 2 spots to go to them. We all agree and have now made the money. I could care less about anything but first though. I knock out the 5th place person with AT against his QJ preflop. Then I get the 4th place guy with 77 vs. his A9. 3rd place is also knocked out by me with T6o on a TT5 board. We both checked the flop. A K hit the turn and he checked so I bet 10k, he went all in for 23k, I called and he had Kx. Now heads up, I had about 146K to 100K. The blinds were 5k/10k now, but I had a small dilemma. It was 7:30 and I had a show in an hour. I still had to get home, change and get to the theater in an hour from 109 in Lindenhurst/Deer Park area. I offered a deal of $620/$500 in favor of me which he decided to "play a few more hands." I lost 2 of the next 8 hands, both preflop, and increased my chiplead due to his ability of calling 25k preflop and then folding on whatever board I bet. When I had close to 200K the other player asked if I wanted the deal. I knew I had him on the ropes but I wasn't in the place to argue, seeing as I had to go. I accepted and claimed the $620 prize, my biggest tournament win to date. I tipped the dealing staff $40, roughly 6% of my winnings, leaving me +$515 for the day.
Like I said, a great couple of days...
Friday, May 19, 2006
Poker's awesome! Poker sucks! repeat...
That's pretty much how it's been going lately. Haven't updated in forever due to laziness but I found a couple of articles I find amusing and intriguing. Have at 'em.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48706
http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/
The second one is lengthy but really well done and worth the time. I love the solidarity of the blogging community. Makes me want to quit my job.
That's pretty much how it's been going lately. Haven't updated in forever due to laziness but I found a couple of articles I find amusing and intriguing. Have at 'em.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48706
http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/
The second one is lengthy but really well done and worth the time. I love the solidarity of the blogging community. Makes me want to quit my job.
Monday, May 08, 2006
It's Really Over
I'm sitting here in the airport in Vegas after my first flight. 2 more to go and I'm home! The Philly flight was not crowded when I checked in at LAX. But now...I was really worried cause I don't sleep well on planes, so I took a row where I was all by myself. I also scored an Ambien from Annie in the show, but with the whole Kennedy car crash, I have reservations about taking it and not remembering my own name. We'll see how it goes.
Last night we had our closing party for Oklahoma. I tried to get pictures with all the girls. I told them not to smile because I wanted them to look "sexy". Here's one pic.
You be the judge!
I'm sitting here in the airport in Vegas after my first flight. 2 more to go and I'm home! The Philly flight was not crowded when I checked in at LAX. But now...I was really worried cause I don't sleep well on planes, so I took a row where I was all by myself. I also scored an Ambien from Annie in the show, but with the whole Kennedy car crash, I have reservations about taking it and not remembering my own name. We'll see how it goes.
Last night we had our closing party for Oklahoma. I tried to get pictures with all the girls. I told them not to smile because I wanted them to look "sexy". Here's one pic.
You be the judge!
Friday, May 05, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Leaving Alberquerque
I'm sitting in the airport today, waiting for my flight to board to California, where we'll be spending our remaining 7 days on tour. A week from now, I'll be in (hopefully) sunny Bellport in rehearsals for Oliver. Alberquerque was a fun town this weekend. We did the customary 5 show weekend, but found 2 casinos nearby and decided to give them a shot.
The Isleta was a closer casino, but a little bit smaller than most. The poker room had about 8 tables I suppose and they actually played Stud 8/B in the afternoon when the old guys were there. I would've loved to play but unfortunatly had shows both afternoons. I sat down in a 1/2 blinds, $2-$10 Spread Limit HE game. It wasn't the right fit for me as there was a hyper aggro guy 3 to my right who was clearly controlling the tone of the game. I was able to flop a set with 55 and get paid off nicely, and left the game up $43. I saw the really passive 2/4 game that my 2 frieneds were sitting in and decided to sit down. Over the course of an hour with KK being the only big hand, I left up $136. We then returned and had a glorious middle of the night meal at Waffle House.
Saturday night after 2 shows we took the drive to the Sandia Casino, probably about 20 miles away. It's funny when you hear the inflection in people's voices about how far away this was. *Front desk guy* "Well, that one's kinda out there, past I-4, prolly a good 15-20 miles." I guess when you routinely drive 300 miles or more on a daily basis, 20 miles is a walk in the park. Also, the company provided us rental cars and we weren't responsible for the gas, so c'mon, this is a no brainer.
The game they had there was a $4-8 game with a 1/2 kill to $6-12. Damn the game was good! The kill pots were so easy to win as no one wanted to invest a preflop raise. I raised 85% of the kill pots with random hands, bet on the flop and took down 5/6 of them. Nothing of note to talk about, just ran well, as I've been doing usual and took a $196 profit in 2.5 hours. My friends were playing in the 2/4 game so I sat down to kill time. I got slowrolled not once, not twice, but 3 times in 15 minutes by the same guy and I quit, down $50 and disgusted by what had happened. He would intentionally miscall his hand on the river, I'd show and then he'd table them, and the dealer would figure out he was kidding. The fact that he thought he was so clever too was icing on the cake. He wasn't wearing sunglasses (a favorite of mine at low limit hold em tables) but he was a donkey still the same, just a different costume.
So, Sunday night comes around, and we go back to Sandia, I sit in the 4/8 game, and who's there? Slowrolling donkey! He ends up going broke with 75o on a J7396 board. I never really got anything going, flopped Tens full with AT on a ATT board. Got called by AJ. At my peak I was up $60 and then the poker gods decided my hands were not meant to run well. Just one of those sessions, everyone's been there. AK AQ all the flops come 842 rainbow and it's 2 bets to you by the time you get it. You miss every draw and the cards just don't go your way. Down $195 I called it quits, leaving me up $87 for the weekend. This was the first day in 2 weeks that poker wasn't fun. Let's hope it becomes fun again soon.
Home in a week! Monteith out!
I'm sitting in the airport today, waiting for my flight to board to California, where we'll be spending our remaining 7 days on tour. A week from now, I'll be in (hopefully) sunny Bellport in rehearsals for Oliver. Alberquerque was a fun town this weekend. We did the customary 5 show weekend, but found 2 casinos nearby and decided to give them a shot.
The Isleta was a closer casino, but a little bit smaller than most. The poker room had about 8 tables I suppose and they actually played Stud 8/B in the afternoon when the old guys were there. I would've loved to play but unfortunatly had shows both afternoons. I sat down in a 1/2 blinds, $2-$10 Spread Limit HE game. It wasn't the right fit for me as there was a hyper aggro guy 3 to my right who was clearly controlling the tone of the game. I was able to flop a set with 55 and get paid off nicely, and left the game up $43. I saw the really passive 2/4 game that my 2 frieneds were sitting in and decided to sit down. Over the course of an hour with KK being the only big hand, I left up $136. We then returned and had a glorious middle of the night meal at Waffle House.
Saturday night after 2 shows we took the drive to the Sandia Casino, probably about 20 miles away. It's funny when you hear the inflection in people's voices about how far away this was. *Front desk guy* "Well, that one's kinda out there, past I-4, prolly a good 15-20 miles." I guess when you routinely drive 300 miles or more on a daily basis, 20 miles is a walk in the park. Also, the company provided us rental cars and we weren't responsible for the gas, so c'mon, this is a no brainer.
The game they had there was a $4-8 game with a 1/2 kill to $6-12. Damn the game was good! The kill pots were so easy to win as no one wanted to invest a preflop raise. I raised 85% of the kill pots with random hands, bet on the flop and took down 5/6 of them. Nothing of note to talk about, just ran well, as I've been doing usual and took a $196 profit in 2.5 hours. My friends were playing in the 2/4 game so I sat down to kill time. I got slowrolled not once, not twice, but 3 times in 15 minutes by the same guy and I quit, down $50 and disgusted by what had happened. He would intentionally miscall his hand on the river, I'd show and then he'd table them, and the dealer would figure out he was kidding. The fact that he thought he was so clever too was icing on the cake. He wasn't wearing sunglasses (a favorite of mine at low limit hold em tables) but he was a donkey still the same, just a different costume.
So, Sunday night comes around, and we go back to Sandia, I sit in the 4/8 game, and who's there? Slowrolling donkey! He ends up going broke with 75o on a J7396 board. I never really got anything going, flopped Tens full with AT on a ATT board. Got called by AJ. At my peak I was up $60 and then the poker gods decided my hands were not meant to run well. Just one of those sessions, everyone's been there. AK AQ all the flops come 842 rainbow and it's 2 bets to you by the time you get it. You miss every draw and the cards just don't go your way. Down $195 I called it quits, leaving me up $87 for the weekend. This was the first day in 2 weeks that poker wasn't fun. Let's hope it becomes fun again soon.
Home in a week! Monteith out!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
New Mexico Report
We played 2 towns in New Mexico this week, well, 3 if you count where were are now in Alberquerque. The more interesting town was Alto where the theater is set up in the middle of nowhere on a mountain. Literally nothing around, but this beautiful venue. The altitude got the better of some people and the theater provides oxygen on both sides of the stage for the dancers. Sadly, none for us in the pit. I was fine, but the wind players suffered a bit.
I got this nice pic outside after soundcheck while listening to the Yankee game on my XM. If you don't have one and travel, GET ONE. It's really refreshing to listen to John Sterling at 4pm in the middle of nowhere.
We played 2 towns in New Mexico this week, well, 3 if you count where were are now in Alberquerque. The more interesting town was Alto where the theater is set up in the middle of nowhere on a mountain. Literally nothing around, but this beautiful venue. The altitude got the better of some people and the theater provides oxygen on both sides of the stage for the dancers. Sadly, none for us in the pit. I was fine, but the wind players suffered a bit.
I got this nice pic outside after soundcheck while listening to the Yankee game on my XM. If you don't have one and travel, GET ONE. It's really refreshing to listen to John Sterling at 4pm in the middle of nowhere.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Finally back!
Well after some drama this week with not getting any internet in the hotels for some reason, and then when I did, not being able to log on to blogger.com, the Reno Report is finally here! Read on...
So the plan was to play for 30 hours over the 3 days. 'Twas a lofty goal, this is true, especially coupled with the fact that I would be doing 5 shows over the weekend, which is pretty typical. (Friday night, double Saturday, double Sunday) I started out playing as soon as I showered at the hotel. Only able to play a couple hours, I booked a small win before going over to soundcheck. The first big pot I played though would set the tone for the weekend.
I limped on the button with Js8s, I played alot of hands like these because this card room was paying big bonuses for straight flushes with both cards in your hand. We took the flop 7 ways and the it came AsQs4d. It was bet by the big blind, called 3x, and the cutoff raised. Knowing that no one goes away anymore in limit games no matter how many bets are put in, I 3 bet it with the 2nd nut draw. It got called by the BB, called 3x then capped by the cutoff. We all called. The 7c missed me on the turn and it was checked to the cutoff who bet, and I merely called, hoping for everyone to call too. Only the BB did and the 6s came on the river. Miraculously, they both checked to me now, and they both called my bet. I was good.
It was during this time also that I got the best symbolic representation of Reno I could ask for. In one pot was a chip, literally falling apart, that the house had Scotch taped together. The metal insert was still intact, but the rest of it was cracked. I laughed at the coincidence and pocketed the chip as a souvenir.
I came back after the show and played until about 5am, leaving the day up $119. The next morning I played again for a couple of hours before my matinee, but the real fun was inbetween shows. Harrah's was across the street from the venue and I ran over to play for an hour or so before my evening show. It was 3/6 with a full kill with some pretty bad play at the table. I sat down with $140 and the first hand I played was in the BB with 5h7c. Flop was 678 rainbow, and I check raised a MP bet and everyone called. The turn missed me yet again, but I lead this time out of position. 4 people called and I bet the 4h on the river and got a crying call from A8. I won another couple of big pots and in 1 hour 15min, I netted $186 from this game. Up $300 in a few hours or so, I played again that night at our hotel and made another win and decided to head upstairs to get some sleep and play in the tournament at 10AM.
I signed up for the tournament at 9:30 and got some breakfast over at Mel's Diner. Yum. I came back and found out the game was a 12 handed single table tournament. Weird. Starting stack was 1500 chips, 25/50, doubling every 15 min, and capped after an hour at 200/400. I figured if I could double up 2x early, I'd have an easy shot at winning it. I was able to pick up 2 black AA at 100/200 and eliminate 2 shortstacks of 700 and 900 in one hand. Eventually it was down to 4 handed, and I called an all in from the button with AT, he had QJ. I survived that and was now the chipleader 3 handed with about 7400 chips. Now I made a serious blunder which I would not have done if I knew the complete rules of the tournament. They call the tournament OVER at 1 hour. The blinds don't stop at 200/400, the whole thing stops and they do a chip count for 1st and 2nd place.
Thinking that no one wanted to go broke on the bubble, I raised to 1400 on the button with T7d. The SB who I've seen limp with AQ then call all ins, moved in on me. I wasn't sure how much he had, so I asked the dealer to bring in the 2 1400's. He didnt' do anything, so I pushed the 2 stacks towards the center and he snapped at me, saying that if I wanted to be a dealer, I could fill out an application. I told him that I needed a count to figure this out and again he did nothing but ask if I was calling. I guess people there don't think about whether their tournament life is on the line and just randomly call without thinking things through. I OF COURSE wasn't going to call, turns out he had more chips than I thought, but I had to act like I was going to think about it, or this might happen a few more times and ruin my image. I eventually folded, and came in 2nd. Had I not have blown that 1400, things might have turned out differently. I took the $40 profit and put it on the Yankee over (10) for that day. The Yanks won 7-1. Yay/boo!
I played for another hour or so, and lost $10 in the 3/6 game, my only losing session all weekend. The goal was to make $600 in 30 hours and I was ready to fall way short of this goal. Harrah's during dinner went awfully bad as soon as I sat down. Case in point:
BB with Th6d. 5 ways, flop comes A66 with rainbow. I check call a button bet as do 3 others. Turn is a 4, I check raise the button now, and the cutoff 3 bets it. Uh oh! What's going on here? Button calls, I just call backing down, but hoping they're overplaying AK, AQ. I check the J on the river and think how sick it would be if she limped with AA. I call, and she tables the AA. Ouch, nicely played ma'am. Down $65 or so early on, I clawed back and eventualy won 2 pots making it a kill pot. I got K4 and won one with turning 2 pair, getting called by 3rd pair, sweet! Next hand i get 23o and flop a 3. People check to me on the button fearing that I might win every hand. We check the turn, and I river another 3. They check to me and I say that I can't win unless I bet, which suckers in one guy. When it was all said and done I was up $96 for that hour and closer to my money goal, but way behind my hours that I wanted.
I had to make $106 that night to make my goal a reality, and things started up quickly again. Long story short, in the 3 days, we did 5 shows, totaling 15 hours of work. I played 17.5 hours of poker, and slept for 9.5 hours in 3 days. I might have been the only person to leave Reno ahead, leaving a $683 winner only playing 3/6. Definitly a good weekend indeed. This weekend we'll be in Alberquerque (I think it's a left turn if we get lost). I think I remember reading in Cardplayer last year that there's casinos nearby. The best part of this story is that I'll be home in 10 days! I had a terrible dream last night though that they sent the wrong color drums to my house, and I was in a terrible state of distess. Yeah yeah, I'm a tough guy.
*Update* I left my lucky broken chip in El Paso, TX on the nightstand. You'll just have to use your imagination.
Well after some drama this week with not getting any internet in the hotels for some reason, and then when I did, not being able to log on to blogger.com, the Reno Report is finally here! Read on...
So the plan was to play for 30 hours over the 3 days. 'Twas a lofty goal, this is true, especially coupled with the fact that I would be doing 5 shows over the weekend, which is pretty typical. (Friday night, double Saturday, double Sunday) I started out playing as soon as I showered at the hotel. Only able to play a couple hours, I booked a small win before going over to soundcheck. The first big pot I played though would set the tone for the weekend.
I limped on the button with Js8s, I played alot of hands like these because this card room was paying big bonuses for straight flushes with both cards in your hand. We took the flop 7 ways and the it came AsQs4d. It was bet by the big blind, called 3x, and the cutoff raised. Knowing that no one goes away anymore in limit games no matter how many bets are put in, I 3 bet it with the 2nd nut draw. It got called by the BB, called 3x then capped by the cutoff. We all called. The 7c missed me on the turn and it was checked to the cutoff who bet, and I merely called, hoping for everyone to call too. Only the BB did and the 6s came on the river. Miraculously, they both checked to me now, and they both called my bet. I was good.
It was during this time also that I got the best symbolic representation of Reno I could ask for. In one pot was a chip, literally falling apart, that the house had Scotch taped together. The metal insert was still intact, but the rest of it was cracked. I laughed at the coincidence and pocketed the chip as a souvenir.
I came back after the show and played until about 5am, leaving the day up $119. The next morning I played again for a couple of hours before my matinee, but the real fun was inbetween shows. Harrah's was across the street from the venue and I ran over to play for an hour or so before my evening show. It was 3/6 with a full kill with some pretty bad play at the table. I sat down with $140 and the first hand I played was in the BB with 5h7c. Flop was 678 rainbow, and I check raised a MP bet and everyone called. The turn missed me yet again, but I lead this time out of position. 4 people called and I bet the 4h on the river and got a crying call from A8. I won another couple of big pots and in 1 hour 15min, I netted $186 from this game. Up $300 in a few hours or so, I played again that night at our hotel and made another win and decided to head upstairs to get some sleep and play in the tournament at 10AM.
I signed up for the tournament at 9:30 and got some breakfast over at Mel's Diner. Yum. I came back and found out the game was a 12 handed single table tournament. Weird. Starting stack was 1500 chips, 25/50, doubling every 15 min, and capped after an hour at 200/400. I figured if I could double up 2x early, I'd have an easy shot at winning it. I was able to pick up 2 black AA at 100/200 and eliminate 2 shortstacks of 700 and 900 in one hand. Eventually it was down to 4 handed, and I called an all in from the button with AT, he had QJ. I survived that and was now the chipleader 3 handed with about 7400 chips. Now I made a serious blunder which I would not have done if I knew the complete rules of the tournament. They call the tournament OVER at 1 hour. The blinds don't stop at 200/400, the whole thing stops and they do a chip count for 1st and 2nd place.
Thinking that no one wanted to go broke on the bubble, I raised to 1400 on the button with T7d. The SB who I've seen limp with AQ then call all ins, moved in on me. I wasn't sure how much he had, so I asked the dealer to bring in the 2 1400's. He didnt' do anything, so I pushed the 2 stacks towards the center and he snapped at me, saying that if I wanted to be a dealer, I could fill out an application. I told him that I needed a count to figure this out and again he did nothing but ask if I was calling. I guess people there don't think about whether their tournament life is on the line and just randomly call without thinking things through. I OF COURSE wasn't going to call, turns out he had more chips than I thought, but I had to act like I was going to think about it, or this might happen a few more times and ruin my image. I eventually folded, and came in 2nd. Had I not have blown that 1400, things might have turned out differently. I took the $40 profit and put it on the Yankee over (10) for that day. The Yanks won 7-1. Yay/boo!
I played for another hour or so, and lost $10 in the 3/6 game, my only losing session all weekend. The goal was to make $600 in 30 hours and I was ready to fall way short of this goal. Harrah's during dinner went awfully bad as soon as I sat down. Case in point:
BB with Th6d. 5 ways, flop comes A66 with rainbow. I check call a button bet as do 3 others. Turn is a 4, I check raise the button now, and the cutoff 3 bets it. Uh oh! What's going on here? Button calls, I just call backing down, but hoping they're overplaying AK, AQ. I check the J on the river and think how sick it would be if she limped with AA. I call, and she tables the AA. Ouch, nicely played ma'am. Down $65 or so early on, I clawed back and eventualy won 2 pots making it a kill pot. I got K4 and won one with turning 2 pair, getting called by 3rd pair, sweet! Next hand i get 23o and flop a 3. People check to me on the button fearing that I might win every hand. We check the turn, and I river another 3. They check to me and I say that I can't win unless I bet, which suckers in one guy. When it was all said and done I was up $96 for that hour and closer to my money goal, but way behind my hours that I wanted.
I had to make $106 that night to make my goal a reality, and things started up quickly again. Long story short, in the 3 days, we did 5 shows, totaling 15 hours of work. I played 17.5 hours of poker, and slept for 9.5 hours in 3 days. I might have been the only person to leave Reno ahead, leaving a $683 winner only playing 3/6. Definitly a good weekend indeed. This weekend we'll be in Alberquerque (I think it's a left turn if we get lost). I think I remember reading in Cardplayer last year that there's casinos nearby. The best part of this story is that I'll be home in 10 days! I had a terrible dream last night though that they sent the wrong color drums to my house, and I was in a terrible state of distess. Yeah yeah, I'm a tough guy.
*Update* I left my lucky broken chip in El Paso, TX on the nightstand. You'll just have to use your imagination.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Fresno, Poker, Baseball, and Airport Gambling
We flew from Spokane WA to Fresno CA on Monday and our Reed II player Ira and I had begun a series of heads up matches. The guidelines were the following:
Best 2 of 3 in NL Hold em and Pot Limit Omaha for $20 a series. The last night in the hotel, I absolutly destroyed him in both games (haha) and won $40. Jeff, one of my roomates is now hooked on poker and wanted to play a $5 3 person tourney with us. I won that too, up $50 for the night.
We continued playing these matches on the airport floor waiting for our flight and it was pretty much over right away. I took him for another $40 and gave him the chance to win some back in PL Omaha, arguably his best game. The last hand had me having KK23 with 2 clubs on a board of A34 with 2 clubs. We jammed the pot and Ira had flopped the nuts with the wheel (doh!!). I missed twice and it was over, ending only $60 ahead. Oh well, that's enough to buy some Quizznos till the end of tour.
We flew in and our trusty bus driver who knows I like the poker, told me of a card room, Club One Casino, right down the street. I was tired on Monday night, so I didn't go, instead opting to watch 24. I DID however, go down and play on Tuesday morning around 1130. The plan was to stay until 5, but I pretty much got my ass kicked and was down $200. I went back inbetween sound check and my show and played 2/4, got in an argument with the dealer over 2 stupid things. I don't want to go into it, I was livid at the time. Suffice to say, the dealer should just keep his mouth shut and move the game along. Insulting players is in no way acceptable and should not be tolerated. I also will not tip dealers who act like this, and this instigated mini arugument #3. Anyway, I made back $32 playing 2/4 and had to go to my show. Afterwards, I played 3/6 again and made back $102, leaving myself down $66 for the day.
A perfect way to start the day before a show
Today a bunch of us went to the Fresno Grizzlies game, the SF Giants AAA team. They were playing the AAA Dodgers team, the Las Vegas 51's. I've never been to a minor league game before and it was awesome. We got seats right behind home plate for $13, drank beer, ate hot dogs and snowcones and everything. The weather was beautiful, it really was a perfect day. They even ended up winning 3-2 with some nice play and good pitching. For pictures of today's game and event go to my picture page. Oh yeah, Parker is the mascot for the Grizzlies and Annie had the best line of the day spoken really softly. "I swear Parker is really Mr. Met, but they found out he touched a kid, and sent him down here."
After the game, I went back to Club One and started off running really well right off the bat, up $141 without blinking. After losing several rough pots, I was up only $30 when I decided enough was enough, cutting the deficit to $36 loss for the 2 days. Tomorrow we drive to Redding, CA and then onto Reno for the weekend. The sick thing is that my taxes are due to direct deposit the day we pull in on Friday. I plan on logging 30 hours at the table this weekend, so blogging might be infrequent. I'll tell y'all how I do!
We flew from Spokane WA to Fresno CA on Monday and our Reed II player Ira and I had begun a series of heads up matches. The guidelines were the following:
Best 2 of 3 in NL Hold em and Pot Limit Omaha for $20 a series. The last night in the hotel, I absolutly destroyed him in both games (haha) and won $40. Jeff, one of my roomates is now hooked on poker and wanted to play a $5 3 person tourney with us. I won that too, up $50 for the night.
We continued playing these matches on the airport floor waiting for our flight and it was pretty much over right away. I took him for another $40 and gave him the chance to win some back in PL Omaha, arguably his best game. The last hand had me having KK23 with 2 clubs on a board of A34 with 2 clubs. We jammed the pot and Ira had flopped the nuts with the wheel (doh!!). I missed twice and it was over, ending only $60 ahead. Oh well, that's enough to buy some Quizznos till the end of tour.
We flew in and our trusty bus driver who knows I like the poker, told me of a card room, Club One Casino, right down the street. I was tired on Monday night, so I didn't go, instead opting to watch 24. I DID however, go down and play on Tuesday morning around 1130. The plan was to stay until 5, but I pretty much got my ass kicked and was down $200. I went back inbetween sound check and my show and played 2/4, got in an argument with the dealer over 2 stupid things. I don't want to go into it, I was livid at the time. Suffice to say, the dealer should just keep his mouth shut and move the game along. Insulting players is in no way acceptable and should not be tolerated. I also will not tip dealers who act like this, and this instigated mini arugument #3. Anyway, I made back $32 playing 2/4 and had to go to my show. Afterwards, I played 3/6 again and made back $102, leaving myself down $66 for the day.
A perfect way to start the day before a show
Today a bunch of us went to the Fresno Grizzlies game, the SF Giants AAA team. They were playing the AAA Dodgers team, the Las Vegas 51's. I've never been to a minor league game before and it was awesome. We got seats right behind home plate for $13, drank beer, ate hot dogs and snowcones and everything. The weather was beautiful, it really was a perfect day. They even ended up winning 3-2 with some nice play and good pitching. For pictures of today's game and event go to my picture page. Oh yeah, Parker is the mascot for the Grizzlies and Annie had the best line of the day spoken really softly. "I swear Parker is really Mr. Met, but they found out he touched a kid, and sent him down here."
After the game, I went back to Club One and started off running really well right off the bat, up $141 without blinking. After losing several rough pots, I was up only $30 when I decided enough was enough, cutting the deficit to $36 loss for the 2 days. Tomorrow we drive to Redding, CA and then onto Reno for the weekend. The sick thing is that my taxes are due to direct deposit the day we pull in on Friday. I plan on logging 30 hours at the table this weekend, so blogging might be infrequent. I'll tell y'all how I do!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Spoklahoma
That was on a shirt I saw in town here in Spokane, WA. Apparently it's the nickname for the town, weird huh?
We're playing the Opera House here and it's a special time as our conducter and my roomate Kasey is playing his hometown. The crowds have been great and I get the feeling when we play this venue that we're doing something special. Not sure what it is, but it's just a feeling I can't describe. It's also real nice to sit down in one place, this being a stop for 4 days.
I was told about a place called the Northern Quest Casino from a guy in Tacoma when I played cards there on Monday. I went there yesterday and got in around 1pm. The only game going was a 3/6 game so I bought in for $150 and sat down. I didn't really catch any big preflop hands, in fact my best pocket pair all day was 66. I never ran into trouble though and I cruised through a 4 1/4 hour session, crushing the game up $405, easily my biggest win at this level.
I came back to do the show and afterwards 4 of us (Jeff, Shaun, Ira, and myself) went back. I was able to jump right into a game again while the other guys waited on a list. One of my first hands sitting down I called a preflop raise from the woman to my right with QJh. 6 of us took a flop of AT4 rainbow. She did her standard continuation bet and I called as did 2 others. I spiked a K on the turn and she bet again, I raised, fold fold, then she 3 bet me. I of course capped it and she called. The river blanked out, and she almost bet. She however check/called me probably having AA or KK, can't think of anything else she's 3 bet then check/call. I then had AA run into quad J's for a beating.
Then my table broke up and I joined another table, sitting directly to Ira's right. I ended up getting AA again and winning a pot against a cap preflop, 3 bets on the flop, 2 bets on the turn, then a check fold on the river. Bizarre to say the least. When my game broke up around 3:15am we left and I took home another $132. While waiting for the cab, I got bored and went into the pit. I shot craps and played one spin of roulette, netting another $16.
This morning I went to Guitar Center, the same store where I got my drumset in Oregon last week. I was in the market for a new Snare Drum so I tested them all out, and eventually picked out this DW All-Maple Collector's Edition. It's oh so beautiful with it's Natural Wood Finish. To those who aren't familiar with this kind of thing, DW is one of the best drum manufacturers in the world. I also picked up a hard case for the drum as well, as I'll be mailing it home in the next couple of days. When I get there, I'll basically have a brand new drumset waiting for me, and the casinos of North America to thank!
That was on a shirt I saw in town here in Spokane, WA. Apparently it's the nickname for the town, weird huh?
We're playing the Opera House here and it's a special time as our conducter and my roomate Kasey is playing his hometown. The crowds have been great and I get the feeling when we play this venue that we're doing something special. Not sure what it is, but it's just a feeling I can't describe. It's also real nice to sit down in one place, this being a stop for 4 days.
I was told about a place called the Northern Quest Casino from a guy in Tacoma when I played cards there on Monday. I went there yesterday and got in around 1pm. The only game going was a 3/6 game so I bought in for $150 and sat down. I didn't really catch any big preflop hands, in fact my best pocket pair all day was 66. I never ran into trouble though and I cruised through a 4 1/4 hour session, crushing the game up $405, easily my biggest win at this level.
I came back to do the show and afterwards 4 of us (Jeff, Shaun, Ira, and myself) went back. I was able to jump right into a game again while the other guys waited on a list. One of my first hands sitting down I called a preflop raise from the woman to my right with QJh. 6 of us took a flop of AT4 rainbow. She did her standard continuation bet and I called as did 2 others. I spiked a K on the turn and she bet again, I raised, fold fold, then she 3 bet me. I of course capped it and she called. The river blanked out, and she almost bet. She however check/called me probably having AA or KK, can't think of anything else she's 3 bet then check/call. I then had AA run into quad J's for a beating.
Then my table broke up and I joined another table, sitting directly to Ira's right. I ended up getting AA again and winning a pot against a cap preflop, 3 bets on the flop, 2 bets on the turn, then a check fold on the river. Bizarre to say the least. When my game broke up around 3:15am we left and I took home another $132. While waiting for the cab, I got bored and went into the pit. I shot craps and played one spin of roulette, netting another $16.
This morning I went to Guitar Center, the same store where I got my drumset in Oregon last week. I was in the market for a new Snare Drum so I tested them all out, and eventually picked out this DW All-Maple Collector's Edition. It's oh so beautiful with it's Natural Wood Finish. To those who aren't familiar with this kind of thing, DW is one of the best drum manufacturers in the world. I also picked up a hard case for the drum as well, as I'll be mailing it home in the next couple of days. When I get there, I'll basically have a brand new drumset waiting for me, and the casinos of North America to thank!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Even more passive than me in the previous post
This just happened in a .50/1 NL game on FCP.
PRE-FLOP
Jezze J-man calls $1, Hampe04 folds, Sacred7 folds, matti_z calls $1, MLCardwell folds, Arulez folds, Venia folds, seanfrey folds, gregg316 checks.
FLOP [board cards 10H,3H,8D ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man bets $2, matti_z calls $2, gregg316 bets $7, Jezze J-man calls $5, matti_z bets $10 and is all-in, gregg316 bets $20, Jezze J-man calls $20.
TURN [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H ]
gregg316 bets $15, Jezze J-man calls $15.
RIVER [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H,JH ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man checks.
SHOWDOWN
gregg316 shows [ 3S,10S ]
Jezze J-man mucks cards [ KS,KD ]
matti_z mucks cards [ AD,AS ]
gregg316 wins $60, gregg316 wins $37.50.
This just happened in a .50/1 NL game on FCP.
PRE-FLOP
Jezze J-man calls $1, Hampe04 folds, Sacred7 folds, matti_z calls $1, MLCardwell folds, Arulez folds, Venia folds, seanfrey folds, gregg316 checks.
FLOP [board cards 10H,3H,8D ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man bets $2, matti_z calls $2, gregg316 bets $7, Jezze J-man calls $5, matti_z bets $10 and is all-in, gregg316 bets $20, Jezze J-man calls $20.
TURN [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H ]
gregg316 bets $15, Jezze J-man calls $15.
RIVER [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H,JH ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man checks.
SHOWDOWN
gregg316 shows [ 3S,10S ]
Jezze J-man mucks cards [ KS,KD ]
matti_z mucks cards [ AD,AS ]
gregg316 wins $60, gregg316 wins $37.50.
Poker and Drums!
As per Will's request, I will now post the losing sessions over the past 2 days that I've had. My first real downswing in a while really. Eugene, OR has a poker club right next to the theater actually. To keep it legal, they charge a membership fee, along the same lines of a greens fee for golf. I got a "day pass" for $5. Usually it's $25 a month or $100 for a year. $5 seems a little steep considering it's one night, but what else could they really charge? $3? Probably not.
The game was 1/2 NL Hold'Em, the game of choice these days it seems with most people. The buy in was $40-$200, and I sat down with the maximum. I didn't really do any action at all. I worked my stack up to about $230 and then the cold deck sat in. My read on the table was that pretty weak starting hands were being played and raises represented what the hand was basically. For example, a raise to $15+ was usually AA KK QQ JJ AK, a raise to $8-$10 was usually 99 88 77 66 AJ AT A9 and so on. The game was action packed though with lots of players seeing flops and gambling more and playing poker less. I just needed a hand when the following hand came up.
UTG raises to $7 and I look down at ThTd. Usually my play in this situation is to reraise to about $22, but for some reason, I couldn't pull the trigger. I was scared for some reason which was reason number 1 to leave the game. There was a HUGE stack of about $800 to my left and I was worried about getting run over as he plays almost every pot. In the first of many bad moves, I only called the raise, and the mega stack to my left decides to raise it to $22. The blinds flat called the reraise, as did the original raiser and I did too. The flop came 942 with 2 hearts. They checked to me, and for some reason, (mistake #2) I decided to check also to see what the other player did. Unfortunatly, he checked behind and we saw the turn which was the Ah. SB checked, BB bets $4 into a $88 pot. It then went fold, and I called with the Ten of hearts. The original reraiser now folded! Wow, ok, can I play this game any more passive? The river was a 3c and the BB bet out $4 again and I was forced with a decision. There was $100 in the pot and I ran through the hands I could beat. I couldn't beat an Ace obviously, but I could beat any 9 or other pair. I don't believe he had a flush or a straight, and quite honestly, I was stumped by what he could have. I thought my best chance was to try and get him to fold to take the pot and I raised an odd amount, of $37 to make it $41 to go. He looked upset and started talking to himself to see if I had a flush, or a straight. He called after not a long time really and showed A4o. I tapped the felt and mucked my hand. Hmmmm, I played that hand so awfully, I probably deserved to lose some money.
After that, I couldn't get anything going and played "get even poker", which is awful to do. Sign #2 that I should have left. I eventually got my last $79 in the pot with the nut flush draw against top pair. I had two chances to hit it, but missed and that was that. Night #1 in the books.
I went back the next night for more punishment, but I thought honestly it was a game I could beat. I sat down with the maximum again and folded for quite a while. There was a player 2 seats to my right who was playing 80% of the pots and playing most of them for a raise. He honestly was not very skilled as he had 2 raise increments. $25 and $12. I took them for what they were worth strengthwise and after a $12 raise, I called with 45c. The button also called as did the BB and we took the flop 4 handed. The flop was 678 rainbow and I had flopped the low straight. The BB checked, and the raiser led out for $25. I raised it to $65. The button and BB folded and the original raiser moved me in. I called my last $86 and he showed top set of 8's. Not exactly the hand I wanted to call me. I'd rather him have TT or 99. The turn was a 4, and the river was...another 4. Ouch, quite a dagger to the heart. So that night was all of 55 minutes and -$400 for the 2 sessions.
Online though my sessions have been much better, practically evening things out for the week. I'm disappointed though at my overall results in the live game. You should always walk away when you know you can't beat the game. My timid play on the first night should've been enough for me.
On a much brighter note (pun maybe intended), I purchase a brand new drumset today! My first new piece of equipment in about 15 years. It's a Gretsch Renown Maple Kit, and the color is the beautiful Autumn Burst. This probably doesn't mean alot to anyone, but I'm excited nonetheless. It will be waiting at home for me when I get home May 8th. Speaking of coming home, we close in California on May 7th with a 3pm show. I have a redeye booked that has me flying out of LAX at 855 pm landing in Islip at 857 am. I then go right to Gateway for an 11 am rehearsal all day and all night. I love the work, but this day will certainly be crazy.
What was the point of this? Oh yeah, my NEW drums will be waiting for me at home as my current drums will be on a FEDEX delivery truck somewhere in California. This way I'll be able to do the shows at Gateway until my drums arrive home.
Another long one in the books. Starting today, we're up in Washington for a while where I'll be seeing Will and Erin on Monday. Can't wait, it'll be great to see them both.
As per Will's request, I will now post the losing sessions over the past 2 days that I've had. My first real downswing in a while really. Eugene, OR has a poker club right next to the theater actually. To keep it legal, they charge a membership fee, along the same lines of a greens fee for golf. I got a "day pass" for $5. Usually it's $25 a month or $100 for a year. $5 seems a little steep considering it's one night, but what else could they really charge? $3? Probably not.
The game was 1/2 NL Hold'Em, the game of choice these days it seems with most people. The buy in was $40-$200, and I sat down with the maximum. I didn't really do any action at all. I worked my stack up to about $230 and then the cold deck sat in. My read on the table was that pretty weak starting hands were being played and raises represented what the hand was basically. For example, a raise to $15+ was usually AA KK QQ JJ AK, a raise to $8-$10 was usually 99 88 77 66 AJ AT A9 and so on. The game was action packed though with lots of players seeing flops and gambling more and playing poker less. I just needed a hand when the following hand came up.
UTG raises to $7 and I look down at ThTd. Usually my play in this situation is to reraise to about $22, but for some reason, I couldn't pull the trigger. I was scared for some reason which was reason number 1 to leave the game. There was a HUGE stack of about $800 to my left and I was worried about getting run over as he plays almost every pot. In the first of many bad moves, I only called the raise, and the mega stack to my left decides to raise it to $22. The blinds flat called the reraise, as did the original raiser and I did too. The flop came 942 with 2 hearts. They checked to me, and for some reason, (mistake #2) I decided to check also to see what the other player did. Unfortunatly, he checked behind and we saw the turn which was the Ah. SB checked, BB bets $4 into a $88 pot. It then went fold, and I called with the Ten of hearts. The original reraiser now folded! Wow, ok, can I play this game any more passive? The river was a 3c and the BB bet out $4 again and I was forced with a decision. There was $100 in the pot and I ran through the hands I could beat. I couldn't beat an Ace obviously, but I could beat any 9 or other pair. I don't believe he had a flush or a straight, and quite honestly, I was stumped by what he could have. I thought my best chance was to try and get him to fold to take the pot and I raised an odd amount, of $37 to make it $41 to go. He looked upset and started talking to himself to see if I had a flush, or a straight. He called after not a long time really and showed A4o. I tapped the felt and mucked my hand. Hmmmm, I played that hand so awfully, I probably deserved to lose some money.
After that, I couldn't get anything going and played "get even poker", which is awful to do. Sign #2 that I should have left. I eventually got my last $79 in the pot with the nut flush draw against top pair. I had two chances to hit it, but missed and that was that. Night #1 in the books.
I went back the next night for more punishment, but I thought honestly it was a game I could beat. I sat down with the maximum again and folded for quite a while. There was a player 2 seats to my right who was playing 80% of the pots and playing most of them for a raise. He honestly was not very skilled as he had 2 raise increments. $25 and $12. I took them for what they were worth strengthwise and after a $12 raise, I called with 45c. The button also called as did the BB and we took the flop 4 handed. The flop was 678 rainbow and I had flopped the low straight. The BB checked, and the raiser led out for $25. I raised it to $65. The button and BB folded and the original raiser moved me in. I called my last $86 and he showed top set of 8's. Not exactly the hand I wanted to call me. I'd rather him have TT or 99. The turn was a 4, and the river was...another 4. Ouch, quite a dagger to the heart. So that night was all of 55 minutes and -$400 for the 2 sessions.
Online though my sessions have been much better, practically evening things out for the week. I'm disappointed though at my overall results in the live game. You should always walk away when you know you can't beat the game. My timid play on the first night should've been enough for me.
On a much brighter note (pun maybe intended), I purchase a brand new drumset today! My first new piece of equipment in about 15 years. It's a Gretsch Renown Maple Kit, and the color is the beautiful Autumn Burst. This probably doesn't mean alot to anyone, but I'm excited nonetheless. It will be waiting at home for me when I get home May 8th. Speaking of coming home, we close in California on May 7th with a 3pm show. I have a redeye booked that has me flying out of LAX at 855 pm landing in Islip at 857 am. I then go right to Gateway for an 11 am rehearsal all day and all night. I love the work, but this day will certainly be crazy.
What was the point of this? Oh yeah, my NEW drums will be waiting for me at home as my current drums will be on a FEDEX delivery truck somewhere in California. This way I'll be able to do the shows at Gateway until my drums arrive home.
Another long one in the books. Starting today, we're up in Washington for a while where I'll be seeing Will and Erin on Monday. Can't wait, it'll be great to see them both.
Monday, April 03, 2006
All Night Drive To Oregon...
Well, the schedule said that we had a 2 day drive from Great Falls, MT to Eugene, OR with a stop in Kennewick, WA at the end of Day 1. Some of us decided that that kinda sucks, so we rented a car and drove right after the show, 859 miles, in 13 hours. Now we're already in Eugene, and have all of today and tomorrow off. Well, we have a show tomorrow, but you know what I mean.
Along the way though, we stopped a couple times to take pictures of the GORGEOUS scenery that is Oregon. I had no idea. Here are a couple of examples:
I have also put up more pictures over here as well. More pictures will be added as this is an easier way for me to share them with you all. Hope everybody is doing well, and I'll talk to you soon!
Well, the schedule said that we had a 2 day drive from Great Falls, MT to Eugene, OR with a stop in Kennewick, WA at the end of Day 1. Some of us decided that that kinda sucks, so we rented a car and drove right after the show, 859 miles, in 13 hours. Now we're already in Eugene, and have all of today and tomorrow off. Well, we have a show tomorrow, but you know what I mean.
Along the way though, we stopped a couple times to take pictures of the GORGEOUS scenery that is Oregon. I had no idea. Here are a couple of examples:
I have also put up more pictures over here as well. More pictures will be added as this is an easier way for me to share them with you all. Hope everybody is doing well, and I'll talk to you soon!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Changed the look of the blog today. We had a 10 hour drive today and when we got to the hotel, I didn't really feel like doing much of anything. In northern Wyoming, this is exactly what there is to do. But that's all well and good, we drive to Montana tomorrow for a show tomorrow night. I'm trying to view this as "states I would probably never vountarily go to."
We lost 2 of our castmates yesterday. Zygo, who was our Will Parker, tore his ACL during the show on Wednesday night and was sent home today to recover. Jessica Barbick also was sent home due to a knee injury sustained over the course of many shows. She needs to have her knee scoped due to lack of cartilage in there. I wanted to drop them a line here in case they read this to know that we miss them, and we wish them a speedy recovery.
If all goes well, I should have a funny picture tomorrow. Wyoming lends itself to that....
We lost 2 of our castmates yesterday. Zygo, who was our Will Parker, tore his ACL during the show on Wednesday night and was sent home today to recover. Jessica Barbick also was sent home due to a knee injury sustained over the course of many shows. She needs to have her knee scoped due to lack of cartilage in there. I wanted to drop them a line here in case they read this to know that we miss them, and we wish them a speedy recovery.
If all goes well, I should have a funny picture tomorrow. Wyoming lends itself to that....
Friday, March 31, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Some loose odds and ends
*Update*
Online poker going extremely well, up about 1000 or so BBs for the weeks time. Casino trip was good last night, 3/6 with a half kill was the game going mostly, didn't have enough for 8/16. Ended +116 for 2.5 hours work. Game was perfect, going back tonight.
*Re-update*
Went back to Agua Caliente last night. Played 3/6 again for 4.5 hours, leaving +$158 winner. We leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow, yet I want to return tonight for a couple hours. I am officially sick...
Here's some other pictures from this week.
Karen outside our hotel on day 1
Cute Little Baby Turtle
A picture of our suite
I forgot the name of this guy. They were playful though...and copulated with one another.
A cougar, presumably looking for Kim Bauer, somewhere in the distance.
Perhaps my favorite picture. They had a miniature train system set up in the middle of the grounds. I took this perspective show under the railing. To me it looks real. I am also a huge dork...
*Update*
Online poker going extremely well, up about 1000 or so BBs for the weeks time. Casino trip was good last night, 3/6 with a half kill was the game going mostly, didn't have enough for 8/16. Ended +116 for 2.5 hours work. Game was perfect, going back tonight.
*Re-update*
Went back to Agua Caliente last night. Played 3/6 again for 4.5 hours, leaving +$158 winner. We leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow, yet I want to return tonight for a couple hours. I am officially sick...
Here's some other pictures from this week.
Karen outside our hotel on day 1
Cute Little Baby Turtle
A picture of our suite
I forgot the name of this guy. They were playful though...and copulated with one another.
A cougar, presumably looking for Kim Bauer, somewhere in the distance.
Perhaps my favorite picture. They had a miniature train system set up in the middle of the grounds. I took this perspective show under the railing. To me it looks real. I am also a huge dork...
Friday, March 24, 2006
California...Where have you been all my life?
Well, where to begin. Our travel day on sunday turned out to be a huge nightmare. We were flying from Madison, WI to Palm Springs, CA with a connection through Dallas. When we arrived at the airport, they informed us that due to mechanical failure, the flight never took off from Dallas, and our flight was therefore cancelled. It didn't look promising to get out of there that day, but they managed to squeeze the 24 of us (the others were flying on a flight through Chicago which turned out fine) on a flight OUT of Chicago to Orange County, CA. Our bus was still there, and our driver Jim agreed to take us to Chicago, 2.5 hours away.
We made it there and then the terminal people couldn't find our reservation. Once they did, they couldn't pull individual people from the list because we were labeled as a group. They finally figured it out, and we relaxed in the Chilis lounge and had beers and fatty foods. Yum. I then went to the other airport bar, watched some of the Bulls game, and had a very rarely found Bud Light Pint-Sized bottle. Delicious.
Once we landed, there was to be a bus to take us to the hotel in Palm Desert, a 2 hour or so drive. One of my regular roomates Jeff got a rental car there and offered me a ride, so I didn't have to take the bus. It's a good thing I did because it didn't come for another hour after we left. They accidently went to LAX and had to turn around and come to Orange County. DOH!
I arrived at the hotel around 11PM or 1am Central time, making the day about 15 hours worth of travel. Karen would then come around midnight, ironically she flew into LAX where the bus was. I upgraded for the week and got a suite at the hotel which was really nice.
Monday we went to a massage place and got hour long massages. I have a hard time enjoying massages afterwards, like the next day. They're usually just momentary release and relaxation, but I feel no long term effects. Still great nonetheless.
Tuesday we went to The Living Desert, a zoo in the area. I got some really nice pics there like these ones:
Wednesday we went to a waterpark called Soak City. A bit overpriced and not that many rides leads to a so so experience. Overall at the end of the day it was a fun day, but you don't get alot for your money.
This morning sadly, Karen had to leave and cut short our mini vacation. I couldn't have asked for a better time though, the weather was beautiful, the company was amazing, and I'll never forget this week in my life. Only 6 more weeks and I'll be home guys!
PS. On a side note, and I swear to the poker people who read this, I have some interesting hand histories to share with you. I've been absolutly killing the NL games on FCP lately. Everytime I say this I always run into a bad streak, but I haven't had a losing session at all since Friday, and playing .50/1 NL, I'm up about 850 BBs. I think I'm really getting into the "zone" and playing the best poker of my life.
Going to the Aqua Caliente Casino tonight. Results will be posted soon!
Well, where to begin. Our travel day on sunday turned out to be a huge nightmare. We were flying from Madison, WI to Palm Springs, CA with a connection through Dallas. When we arrived at the airport, they informed us that due to mechanical failure, the flight never took off from Dallas, and our flight was therefore cancelled. It didn't look promising to get out of there that day, but they managed to squeeze the 24 of us (the others were flying on a flight through Chicago which turned out fine) on a flight OUT of Chicago to Orange County, CA. Our bus was still there, and our driver Jim agreed to take us to Chicago, 2.5 hours away.
We made it there and then the terminal people couldn't find our reservation. Once they did, they couldn't pull individual people from the list because we were labeled as a group. They finally figured it out, and we relaxed in the Chilis lounge and had beers and fatty foods. Yum. I then went to the other airport bar, watched some of the Bulls game, and had a very rarely found Bud Light Pint-Sized bottle. Delicious.
Once we landed, there was to be a bus to take us to the hotel in Palm Desert, a 2 hour or so drive. One of my regular roomates Jeff got a rental car there and offered me a ride, so I didn't have to take the bus. It's a good thing I did because it didn't come for another hour after we left. They accidently went to LAX and had to turn around and come to Orange County. DOH!
I arrived at the hotel around 11PM or 1am Central time, making the day about 15 hours worth of travel. Karen would then come around midnight, ironically she flew into LAX where the bus was. I upgraded for the week and got a suite at the hotel which was really nice.
Monday we went to a massage place and got hour long massages. I have a hard time enjoying massages afterwards, like the next day. They're usually just momentary release and relaxation, but I feel no long term effects. Still great nonetheless.
Tuesday we went to The Living Desert, a zoo in the area. I got some really nice pics there like these ones:
Wednesday we went to a waterpark called Soak City. A bit overpriced and not that many rides leads to a so so experience. Overall at the end of the day it was a fun day, but you don't get alot for your money.
This morning sadly, Karen had to leave and cut short our mini vacation. I couldn't have asked for a better time though, the weather was beautiful, the company was amazing, and I'll never forget this week in my life. Only 6 more weeks and I'll be home guys!
PS. On a side note, and I swear to the poker people who read this, I have some interesting hand histories to share with you. I've been absolutly killing the NL games on FCP lately. Everytime I say this I always run into a bad streak, but I haven't had a losing session at all since Friday, and playing .50/1 NL, I'm up about 850 BBs. I think I'm really getting into the "zone" and playing the best poker of my life.
Going to the Aqua Caliente Casino tonight. Results will be posted soon!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Greetings from Cedar Rapids, Iowa!
Not much really to report out here in Oklahoma Land. Just workin hard finishing up a rough patch in the schedule. Tomorrow we're in Wasau, WI, and Thurs-Sat we're in Madison, WI. On Sunday, it's the day everyone's been waiting for. Flying to Palm Springs CA for 8 days. So far I've found 4 casinos within 12 miles of our hotel. Also there's a massage-spa place very close to where we're staying, which Karen and I will be partaking.
Other than that, nothing real crazy happening. Been having weird stomach aches lately but I can't really pinpoint anything bad I may have ate. Haven't been working out as much due to how I've been feeling. My roomate Jeff has watched all the Lost DVDs from season 1 and just recently bought all of the eps from Season 2 thus far on ITunes. I've been re-watching them with him the past couple days and we're up to ep 5 where Sun loses her ring. It's cool to see them again with all the information you have now and seeing how consistent the writing is, let alone things you may have missed. (Never picked up on Libby saying there were 23 of them in the tail section)
On another note, it appears as though I'll be leaving again for another tour in September. I'll be home for the summer, and as it appears now, I won't return until July 2007. What show you ask? Either The Producers or Hairspray.
Not much really to report out here in Oklahoma Land. Just workin hard finishing up a rough patch in the schedule. Tomorrow we're in Wasau, WI, and Thurs-Sat we're in Madison, WI. On Sunday, it's the day everyone's been waiting for. Flying to Palm Springs CA for 8 days. So far I've found 4 casinos within 12 miles of our hotel. Also there's a massage-spa place very close to where we're staying, which Karen and I will be partaking.
Other than that, nothing real crazy happening. Been having weird stomach aches lately but I can't really pinpoint anything bad I may have ate. Haven't been working out as much due to how I've been feeling. My roomate Jeff has watched all the Lost DVDs from season 1 and just recently bought all of the eps from Season 2 thus far on ITunes. I've been re-watching them with him the past couple days and we're up to ep 5 where Sun loses her ring. It's cool to see them again with all the information you have now and seeing how consistent the writing is, let alone things you may have missed. (Never picked up on Libby saying there were 23 of them in the tail section)
On another note, it appears as though I'll be leaving again for another tour in September. I'll be home for the summer, and as it appears now, I won't return until July 2007. What show you ask? Either The Producers or Hairspray.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Casino in Evansville, and a drive to Columbia, MO
We had a good show last night in Evansville, IN. Beautiful theater, ok neighborhood, not much to do really. UNLESS, you take the shuttle from the hotel and go 14 blocks to the Aztar Casino. It wasn't hopping at 1130PM on a Monday night, but there were 4 tables of poker open in their room.
The back table was a 2/5 PLO game. My friend Ira, who is one of the reed players on the tour, plays Omaha almost exclusively. He sat down with the minimum buy in of $100. He ended up with $170 and went upstairs to play Carribean Stud where he hit a full house and the dealer qualified for another $175. Good job man!
There were 2 1-5 7 Stud tables open and 1 5-10 HE table. I sat down in a stud game while I waited for a seat to open up at 5-10. My first hand I got rolled up Aces. Kid to my right raised on 3rd street, I reraised to isolate. Heads up we got 2 bets in on 4th, 3 bets in on 5th, and 1 bet on the last 2 streets each. He had split 4's to start and picked up 2 pair. Later in that game we were joined by a drunk man who was drinking Dramboui straight. He decided to raise every hand on every street. I picked up split Aces one hand and finally slowed him down and got him to fold on 6th street when he had 2 diamonds showing. I made about $55 in that game and went over to the 5/10 game.
I got into a disagreement with the biggest hick you've ever seen at the game. It's too long to type about here, but he basically called me a "stupid internet kid who doesn't know how to play real cards. He likes to gamble." He got mad at me because I had the best hand on every street and got him to fold on the river with a worse hand. Why would he be mad at me then? I'm not even exaggerating either. It was ridiculous. He then proceeded to spit out percantages which were completely bogus about how far behind I was in the hand blah blah blah, when I was the clear favorite. I layed into him a little bit at the table and got most of the people there to laugh a little bit about how ridiculous this guy was being. He then proceeded to go broke soon after this. Vindication, one time!
We left Evansville today and drove 300 miles to Columbia, MO. Stopped over in St. Louis for lunch at Union Station, a "mall" of sorts that looks like an old train station. It was alright, I wasn't that impressed with anything there. After lunch I watched half on "Deus Ex Machina" from Lost with Jeff, one of our trumpet players. That's the ep that ends with Boone falling down with the plane and Locke over the hatch. Good stuff, makes me remember how good the show is when it's good. This past week was an awesome ep, which makes me also realize how filler the show gets inbetween the "HOLY CRAP" moments. But I digress....
While driving, I saw a billboard for something I never thought that I would see. Apparently Pheasant hunting is big here. Big enough to have a billboard with an advertisement for their website.
I especially like this pic. I'd like to see this kid in 20 years.
We had no show tonight which was a welcome change, as we now go for quite a few days without another day off. Till March 19th to be exact. Unfortunatly, I got a little sick during this time and had a fever and aches and chills and everything. Lot of people went to the bar and the gym while I stayed in and watched Scrubs and The Amazing Race. Whew, this was a long one, if you made it this far, congratulations. You win....nothing
We had a good show last night in Evansville, IN. Beautiful theater, ok neighborhood, not much to do really. UNLESS, you take the shuttle from the hotel and go 14 blocks to the Aztar Casino. It wasn't hopping at 1130PM on a Monday night, but there were 4 tables of poker open in their room.
The back table was a 2/5 PLO game. My friend Ira, who is one of the reed players on the tour, plays Omaha almost exclusively. He sat down with the minimum buy in of $100. He ended up with $170 and went upstairs to play Carribean Stud where he hit a full house and the dealer qualified for another $175. Good job man!
There were 2 1-5 7 Stud tables open and 1 5-10 HE table. I sat down in a stud game while I waited for a seat to open up at 5-10. My first hand I got rolled up Aces. Kid to my right raised on 3rd street, I reraised to isolate. Heads up we got 2 bets in on 4th, 3 bets in on 5th, and 1 bet on the last 2 streets each. He had split 4's to start and picked up 2 pair. Later in that game we were joined by a drunk man who was drinking Dramboui straight. He decided to raise every hand on every street. I picked up split Aces one hand and finally slowed him down and got him to fold on 6th street when he had 2 diamonds showing. I made about $55 in that game and went over to the 5/10 game.
I got into a disagreement with the biggest hick you've ever seen at the game. It's too long to type about here, but he basically called me a "stupid internet kid who doesn't know how to play real cards. He likes to gamble." He got mad at me because I had the best hand on every street and got him to fold on the river with a worse hand. Why would he be mad at me then? I'm not even exaggerating either. It was ridiculous. He then proceeded to spit out percantages which were completely bogus about how far behind I was in the hand blah blah blah, when I was the clear favorite. I layed into him a little bit at the table and got most of the people there to laugh a little bit about how ridiculous this guy was being. He then proceeded to go broke soon after this. Vindication, one time!
We left Evansville today and drove 300 miles to Columbia, MO. Stopped over in St. Louis for lunch at Union Station, a "mall" of sorts that looks like an old train station. It was alright, I wasn't that impressed with anything there. After lunch I watched half on "Deus Ex Machina" from Lost with Jeff, one of our trumpet players. That's the ep that ends with Boone falling down with the plane and Locke over the hatch. Good stuff, makes me remember how good the show is when it's good. This past week was an awesome ep, which makes me also realize how filler the show gets inbetween the "HOLY CRAP" moments. But I digress....
While driving, I saw a billboard for something I never thought that I would see. Apparently Pheasant hunting is big here. Big enough to have a billboard with an advertisement for their website.
I especially like this pic. I'd like to see this kid in 20 years.
We had no show tonight which was a welcome change, as we now go for quite a few days without another day off. Till March 19th to be exact. Unfortunatly, I got a little sick during this time and had a fever and aches and chills and everything. Lot of people went to the bar and the gym while I stayed in and watched Scrubs and The Amazing Race. Whew, this was a long one, if you made it this far, congratulations. You win....nothing
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Livin' On The Edge...in Lexington, KY
We had a nice 4 show weekend here in Lexington, KY. Really nice town with some cool bars in a 2 block radius. Also, the UK arena is right next door and with the UK vs. Florida NCAA game today, the town was hopping. Unfortunatly, UK lost by 14, so the town was dead quiet after our show.
In a weird series of events a man came up to the pit before the show and was talking to Kasey our conductor. I thought nothing of it as people talk to us before the show to see where we were, where we're going, ya know, usual stuff. When we got back to the hotel around 545 or so, we get a call from the same man. Well, it turns out he used to work with some of the higher ups in NETworks (my company) when they were performing or touring like we are now. Except this guy, is now the road manager for Aerosmith!
He invited Kasey and I out to dinner and we took off to a pretty swanky Italian restaurant in downtown Lexington. I had a pan roasted chicken with sundried tomatoes and a garlic mashed potato with some kind of creamy sauce. Yum. We shared stories of being out on the road in the entertainment business, but man, has this guy been around! He told stories about everything, and how life in the rock and roll business really is. It was such a good time just hearing about his experiences.
He's toured with Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard, Hanson, Allman Brothers, Spice Girls, and has been with Aerosmith for the past 5 years. He invited us to their show on Tuesday here at the Rupp Arena, but sadly we'll be in Columbia, MO. But he did give me his card and said to look up their itinerary and if we're ever in the same area again, give him a call and we can hang out. Honestly a nice, down to earth guy if ever there was one.
Well, it's about 1230am now, and although I didn't check the official tally, I'm pretty sure I lost the Oscar pool here on the Oklahoma tour. I mean, c'mon, I didn't pick Wallace and Gromit, and also didn't choose Tsotsis for best foreign language film. Was I high or something?
Also, Crash came out of nowhere. One gay cowboy movie and the entire film industry falls on its head....
We had a nice 4 show weekend here in Lexington, KY. Really nice town with some cool bars in a 2 block radius. Also, the UK arena is right next door and with the UK vs. Florida NCAA game today, the town was hopping. Unfortunatly, UK lost by 14, so the town was dead quiet after our show.
In a weird series of events a man came up to the pit before the show and was talking to Kasey our conductor. I thought nothing of it as people talk to us before the show to see where we were, where we're going, ya know, usual stuff. When we got back to the hotel around 545 or so, we get a call from the same man. Well, it turns out he used to work with some of the higher ups in NETworks (my company) when they were performing or touring like we are now. Except this guy, is now the road manager for Aerosmith!
He invited Kasey and I out to dinner and we took off to a pretty swanky Italian restaurant in downtown Lexington. I had a pan roasted chicken with sundried tomatoes and a garlic mashed potato with some kind of creamy sauce. Yum. We shared stories of being out on the road in the entertainment business, but man, has this guy been around! He told stories about everything, and how life in the rock and roll business really is. It was such a good time just hearing about his experiences.
He's toured with Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard, Hanson, Allman Brothers, Spice Girls, and has been with Aerosmith for the past 5 years. He invited us to their show on Tuesday here at the Rupp Arena, but sadly we'll be in Columbia, MO. But he did give me his card and said to look up their itinerary and if we're ever in the same area again, give him a call and we can hang out. Honestly a nice, down to earth guy if ever there was one.
Well, it's about 1230am now, and although I didn't check the official tally, I'm pretty sure I lost the Oscar pool here on the Oklahoma tour. I mean, c'mon, I didn't pick Wallace and Gromit, and also didn't choose Tsotsis for best foreign language film. Was I high or something?
Also, Crash came out of nowhere. One gay cowboy movie and the entire film industry falls on its head....
Friday, March 03, 2006
Happy March!!
I'm writing this from Muncie, IN on Thursday night. We're off to Lexington KY tomorrow for the weekend, then only 2 more weeks of the midwest, and we're off to sunny California! Karen's coming out on the 19th and staying until Friday for a much needed vacation for the both of us. We've been having some good shows lately, and great audiences too.
Anybody besides Will and Erin watch the Amazing Race? Just watched it on the bus today and damn! I'm glad they're back to their old ways again. I flat out refused to watch the family edition. This is one show that never did anything wacky to change the format before this, (albeit stunt casting last year with Rob and Amber) and they seem to ALWAYS win the Emmy. I'm glad they learned from their mistake and are back with the 2 person teams.
Right now I'm downloading High Stakes Poker and both American Idols this week. Lost will be watched tomorrow and I'm uber excited as everyone that saw it said it was awesome. I'm surprised that more people out here haven't asked me how to download their favorite shows. It's amazing how these little creature comforts can make any day better.
I'm writing this from Muncie, IN on Thursday night. We're off to Lexington KY tomorrow for the weekend, then only 2 more weeks of the midwest, and we're off to sunny California! Karen's coming out on the 19th and staying until Friday for a much needed vacation for the both of us. We've been having some good shows lately, and great audiences too.
Anybody besides Will and Erin watch the Amazing Race? Just watched it on the bus today and damn! I'm glad they're back to their old ways again. I flat out refused to watch the family edition. This is one show that never did anything wacky to change the format before this, (albeit stunt casting last year with Rob and Amber) and they seem to ALWAYS win the Emmy. I'm glad they learned from their mistake and are back with the 2 person teams.
Right now I'm downloading High Stakes Poker and both American Idols this week. Lost will be watched tomorrow and I'm uber excited as everyone that saw it said it was awesome. I'm surprised that more people out here haven't asked me how to download their favorite shows. It's amazing how these little creature comforts can make any day better.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Kansas, Protesters, Show Stoppage, and Steak & Shake
Today we're in Lawrence, KS. We received word that Pastor Fred Phelps and his crew might be protesting outside our show. Fred Phelps is a minister in Topeka KS. They apparently picket outside musical theater shows in the area because gay people are involved in musical theater, are heathens, and the public must be made aware. Here's their website. This is also what Fred Phelps looks like, along with a bio. Mr. Phelps's group is not just anti-gay mind you. You see, America allows gays in it, and therefore, America is evil also. So essentially, they are anti-America as well.
Unfortunatly he was not at our show tonight. We found out later that his group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. To quote Lewis Black, "I will repeat that." His group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. How insensitive can they possibly be? I actually wanted them to be at our show tonight; I would've had some pictures to put on the blog.
We had to stop the show tonight too. This is the 3rd time in the past week that this has happened. A leg of power was lost, cutting our stage power for our lights, well 98% of them. So halfway through Act I, the show was stopped for 14 minutes. Thanks to modern technology, I played 3/6 holdem in the pit and IMed with Karen. Yes, a paycheck well earned.
After the show, Jeff the trumpet player and I were going to go to a local brewery called Free State Brewery. Unfortunatly, they closed at midnight, so we did the next best thing. Went to the 24 hour Walmart across the street! I just picked up some mosturizer, this weather has been a bitch on my skin, let me tell you! I contemplated new sweatpants also as my favorites have ripped. I did not buy them.
We then walked to Stake and Shake and severly destroyed our diets. Oh well, a good night nonetheless. Tomorrow, off to Omaha NE, where my new Ipod is waiting for me at the hotel! (Or as our bus driver pronounces it, the HO-tel.) See you guys soon!
Today we're in Lawrence, KS. We received word that Pastor Fred Phelps and his crew might be protesting outside our show. Fred Phelps is a minister in Topeka KS. They apparently picket outside musical theater shows in the area because gay people are involved in musical theater, are heathens, and the public must be made aware. Here's their website. This is also what Fred Phelps looks like, along with a bio. Mr. Phelps's group is not just anti-gay mind you. You see, America allows gays in it, and therefore, America is evil also. So essentially, they are anti-America as well.
Unfortunatly he was not at our show tonight. We found out later that his group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. To quote Lewis Black, "I will repeat that." His group was protesting a funeral in Minnesota of a soldier killed in Iraq. How insensitive can they possibly be? I actually wanted them to be at our show tonight; I would've had some pictures to put on the blog.
We had to stop the show tonight too. This is the 3rd time in the past week that this has happened. A leg of power was lost, cutting our stage power for our lights, well 98% of them. So halfway through Act I, the show was stopped for 14 minutes. Thanks to modern technology, I played 3/6 holdem in the pit and IMed with Karen. Yes, a paycheck well earned.
After the show, Jeff the trumpet player and I were going to go to a local brewery called Free State Brewery. Unfortunatly, they closed at midnight, so we did the next best thing. Went to the 24 hour Walmart across the street! I just picked up some mosturizer, this weather has been a bitch on my skin, let me tell you! I contemplated new sweatpants also as my favorites have ripped. I did not buy them.
We then walked to Stake and Shake and severly destroyed our diets. Oh well, a good night nonetheless. Tomorrow, off to Omaha NE, where my new Ipod is waiting for me at the hotel! (Or as our bus driver pronounces it, the HO-tel.) See you guys soon!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
NY to Chicago - 2 days or 2.5 hours?
That was the question. Most of the cast took a 2 day bus trip to Joliet Ill, a little outside Chicago. I got to stay home though seeing as our last show on Sunday was on LI. What a difference a day makes.
Karen came out to sit in the pit with me at our LI show. We then met up with Tieds, MB, Dycka and Jess for brunch at the Peter Pan diner, it was really great to see them. Afterwards we stopped by Pete and Jess's to watch Dycka play Xbox fishing for a little bit and see how the house is improving. (Good job guys!)
Monday night was all pizza, beer and 24. Karen and I had a wonderful time like always, it's amazing how good it feels to do nothing sometimes. Just the way a day off should be. This morning I had a car service pick me up, take me to Laguardia and fly to O'Hare. I'm already in the hotel before the bus is even here, so I'm enjoying some alone time, but really wish I was still at home. 26 days to California baby!
That was the question. Most of the cast took a 2 day bus trip to Joliet Ill, a little outside Chicago. I got to stay home though seeing as our last show on Sunday was on LI. What a difference a day makes.
Karen came out to sit in the pit with me at our LI show. We then met up with Tieds, MB, Dycka and Jess for brunch at the Peter Pan diner, it was really great to see them. Afterwards we stopped by Pete and Jess's to watch Dycka play Xbox fishing for a little bit and see how the house is improving. (Good job guys!)
Monday night was all pizza, beer and 24. Karen and I had a wonderful time like always, it's amazing how good it feels to do nothing sometimes. Just the way a day off should be. This morning I had a car service pick me up, take me to Laguardia and fly to O'Hare. I'm already in the hotel before the bus is even here, so I'm enjoying some alone time, but really wish I was still at home. 26 days to California baby!
Monday, February 13, 2006
Hey Everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick)
Life on the road is better now. This week especially will be alot of fun because I get to see Karen a lot and even get to sleep in my own bed one night. Jen and Patrick and the kids came to see the show yesterday in Ohio. Here's a good pic.
Talking to Jen today, Colin was upset that he didn't get to go on stage while the actual show was going on. They sat through the whole show, and even though we started late and had a long intermission, which puts the show over 3 hours, they were great. I was nervous that they'd cry after the gunshots, but it was some other kids, not them. It was really good to seem them and see what I do, cause honestly, it's been a while.
I just got out of my show now and I'm sitting in my hotel room in awe of my new wireless mouse. I love things that are plug and play. Also, I recently purchased an XM portable radio to bring on tour. I figure when the Yankees start up again and I'm on the west coast, I can listen to an entire home game before I do my show!
On the bad side of things, I don't get to watch the Olympics hardly. I really wish I could watch some curling too....
Life on the road is better now. This week especially will be alot of fun because I get to see Karen a lot and even get to sleep in my own bed one night. Jen and Patrick and the kids came to see the show yesterday in Ohio. Here's a good pic.
Talking to Jen today, Colin was upset that he didn't get to go on stage while the actual show was going on. They sat through the whole show, and even though we started late and had a long intermission, which puts the show over 3 hours, they were great. I was nervous that they'd cry after the gunshots, but it was some other kids, not them. It was really good to seem them and see what I do, cause honestly, it's been a while.
I just got out of my show now and I'm sitting in my hotel room in awe of my new wireless mouse. I love things that are plug and play. Also, I recently purchased an XM portable radio to bring on tour. I figure when the Yankees start up again and I'm on the west coast, I can listen to an entire home game before I do my show!
On the bad side of things, I don't get to watch the Olympics hardly. I really wish I could watch some curling too....
Friday, February 03, 2006
Greetings from Elmira, NY
I'm sitting in the lounge/bar area of our hotel after a long as hell stretch of shows which has been going on for just under 2 weeks. Honestly, I know I've only been gone for 10 days, but my body has felt like it's been 2 months. I'm frustrated as well. I can't really go into much detail on it, but something just isn't right. Also.....
After just seeing the pics on www.tieds.com, I really wish I could be there to see Will and Erin off to Seattle. It looked like a great time as always, and it annoys me that I wasn't able to be there. Sorry for the venting, but there's only so much you can talk about I guess. This by far wins the most indepth blog yet. Sorry you had to read this...
I'm sitting in the lounge/bar area of our hotel after a long as hell stretch of shows which has been going on for just under 2 weeks. Honestly, I know I've only been gone for 10 days, but my body has felt like it's been 2 months. I'm frustrated as well. I can't really go into much detail on it, but something just isn't right. Also.....
After just seeing the pics on www.tieds.com, I really wish I could be there to see Will and Erin off to Seattle. It looked like a great time as always, and it annoys me that I wasn't able to be there. Sorry for the venting, but there's only so much you can talk about I guess. This by far wins the most indepth blog yet. Sorry you had to read this...
Friday, January 27, 2006
You Don't Call, You Don't Write...
Ok, maybe just the latter. Well, we're back on the road up in Springfield Mass. We openend up in Utica NY and wouldn't ya know it, we were only 30 minutes away from Turning Stone Casino. Had a nice little visit over there and will be going to Foxwoods tomorrow most likely. The break was very good, very relaxing, just what I needed. Apparently I needed a new TV too, so I bought this one:
Yes, I bought a flat screen LCD TV and left right away for 4 months. Now you may ask what image that is on the screen? The answer is quite possibly the best PS2 game out right now, Guitar Hero. Basically DDR but with a prop, in this case a guitar. The game works so well, it's scary. In fact, I even brought it out on tour (the guitar JUST fits in my suitcase). Even the deepest skeptics become believers after one game.
I expect many posts to mock me and my game, but I warn you. Once you play, you will be forever changed, so please, choose your words wisely. It's good to be back on the blog again, I promise to never leave this long again...
Ok, maybe just the latter. Well, we're back on the road up in Springfield Mass. We openend up in Utica NY and wouldn't ya know it, we were only 30 minutes away from Turning Stone Casino. Had a nice little visit over there and will be going to Foxwoods tomorrow most likely. The break was very good, very relaxing, just what I needed. Apparently I needed a new TV too, so I bought this one:
Yes, I bought a flat screen LCD TV and left right away for 4 months. Now you may ask what image that is on the screen? The answer is quite possibly the best PS2 game out right now, Guitar Hero. Basically DDR but with a prop, in this case a guitar. The game works so well, it's scary. In fact, I even brought it out on tour (the guitar JUST fits in my suitcase). Even the deepest skeptics become believers after one game.
I expect many posts to mock me and my game, but I warn you. Once you play, you will be forever changed, so please, choose your words wisely. It's good to be back on the blog again, I promise to never leave this long again...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
