Fairweather Zealot

This morning, I received a phone call from one of my pledge brothers. It’s always good to talk to Gil, but there’s never a good time to get this type of call. “Marty, I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but I got an email from Earl Adamy. Mark Brooks died this weekend.” I sat in silence for a second before I asked the obligatory, “How?” “I’m not sure yet, but I wanted to let you know. When I hear something, I’ll give you a call.”

It was just after 8 in the morning – the start of the day, the end of a life all in the span of a phone call. We chit-chatted for a bit, but you could tell that neither of us knew really how to grasp the news. Mark was a fraternity brother of ours, a few classes older but close enough that we were in the house with him for a bit. He was my roommates big brother and so I got to know him pretty well during the whole pledging thing. He was a quiet guy, with a soft, dry humor that came out of nowhere when you least expected it.

I’d only seen him once in the last few years, and for the life of me I can’t remember if it was at a party someone through, or at the house for Homecoming or even at last year’s poker tournament. Strange that you never think those moments might be the last time you see someone. There’s never any reason to think that it is – and even if you stopped to consider, and thought that you’d never see that person again, it was happenstance, that you just never connected over time and distance and family obligations and such. Never that one of you would die before the opportunity passed.

I still don’t know what happened, but in many ways it doesn’t matter. It’s a brother who’s passed far before his time, and the circumstances may add a touch of tragedy or solemnity or a shake of the head, but in the end it’s the fact that he has gone that really matters. His family is probably in shock; his pledge brothers likewise in their own ways; even the rest of us are surely wondering about our own mortality even as we try to remember the moments we shared with this man in and after college. For some, those memories will be painful to bear, while others will remember them as hallmarks of a good life. Either way, it’s the memories that remain in stories told over a cold beer, anecdotes at a summer barbecue and toasts given at the next home football game.

Until then, godspeed Mark. We’ll toast the old lady when next we meet.

A friend of mine from college had a small poker tourney yesterday – 15 people showed up, and I had a great time (except for the drive in along Alleghany and Germantown Aves. – scary places in Philly). I played really well until the end when I started to panic. I ended up becoming short stack and decided to make my move.

I’ve got a pair of 4′s on the draw and I’m to the right of the dealer, so I’m nearly last to decide whether I’m in or out. There are six still playing, and two before me stay in on the deal by matching the blind ($2000). I’m deciding whether to go strong (all in with $5,200) or just call. I called – and that was my downfall.

The flop gave us an Ace, 8 clubs and a 3. Both other players checked and I went all in – $3,200. Player 1 folded, but player 2 called me – and when we flipped, showed an 8 and Q – giving him a pair of 8′s to my 4′s. The rest of the deal was trash, but he said later that had I gone strong from the deal, he would have folded. I KNOW the rule is to go hard to avoid the flop when fortunes can change dramatically, and I didn’t do it and it cost me. In the end, I probably was just holding off the inevitable, but at least I could have played a few more hands if I had played right – and who knows what can happen with the right cards.

Dichotomy

I’m not sure how to feel about my vacation last week. In some ways, it seemed so wrong to be having a good time in N. Topsail Beach while the suffering was going on down in the south. To be honest, many of us were torn between watching the news and seeing what was happening, and salvaging our own much-needed vacation by pushing that away – it would become all too real once we returned to the ‘Real World’. Continue reading

This past weekend I got to combine three of my favorite things – well, four if you want to be exact. I went up to Penn State, enjoyed myself at a beer festival and then played in a poker tournament. The fourth thing? I got to play around with my camera a bit, too.

The weekend began with the trip up to Penn State – a much shorter and faster trip than I remembered, thanks to the tons of new construction. When we got there, we were met by a large group of other Theta Delts at the Cafe. We made quite a ruckus there before heading over to an old favorite – Zeno’s. It was there that I got into trouble, switching from Yuengling Lager to Chimay and Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Both were delicious but added to my light-headedness.

It was a cool place to be, though, since they were sponsoring the BrewFest the next day – and there were a lot of brewers and beer afficianados in attendance to drink from Zeno’s 29 taps and over 200 different beers (and you’d be hard pressed to find anything brewed by the Big 3. Along the way, I met Matt from Stoudt’s Brewery, a good guy to talk beer with. We reviewed our favorites, talked about his work and he gave me a bit of a lesson on some of the styles that I’m less familiar with, as well as inviting me to stop by the next day.

As the night went on, I realized that I just can’t drink like I used to – but I can still kick butt in darts, winning 3 of 4 games. After the performance (and much trash-talking), everyone then headed back to the house where I quickly found my long work week catching up to me. Continue reading

Thanks to Van, who kindly invited me and the mutts over to go swimming in the lakes near his house. After a small introduction period that involved some pulling, barking and growling, the three golden retrievers seemed to get along pretty well. After a beer and a survey of the yard, we headed to the pond to let the dogs take a dip.

Problem – my dogs aren’t exactly Mark Spitz and Ian Thorpe with fur and fangs. Oakley seemed to get used to it after a bit and enjoyed the swimming part (although he seemed to enjoy the rolling around in the dirt afterward part more. Miles started strong, leaping after his tennis ball into the deep water. But I think that it startled him, and he wasn’t so keen on the water/swimming thing after that and had to rely on Yogi (Van’s huge golden) to retrieve the tennis ball for him.

Still, they seemed to enjoy it – as well as the baths they got later in their pool. I’ll have photos as soon as I have time to put them up. Thanks Van for having all of us over – it was great to finally meet your family.

Almost Daily Links »

• Hawaii Isn’t Really a State

Anyone that knows me knows one of my dark secrets – I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. To those who are surprised at this, it comes from meeting Randy White before the 1977 season. He lived down the road, and a bunch of friends and I were taken down to meet him. He was a great guy, and I followed him all season – a season that ended with the Cowboys beating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, and White being named Super Bowl co-MVP. My fate was sealed.

When I moved to Boulder, CO, I started following the Broncos (ironic, huh?). I actually liked John Elway – hard not to with his work ethic and history – and the team got my attention, partially because I was covering them for a local college newspaper. I still preferred my Cowboys – even venturing to the South Stands at old Mile High wearing Cowboys regalia – but enjoyed watching an AFC team, too.

When I moved back to the Philly area, I started watching more Eagles football. Part of it was immersion – if I wanted to hang out with my friends on football Sunday, it was going to be the Eagles – and part of it was that I was enjoying the way that team was being run (as opposed to the despicable way that Jerry Jones was running the Cowboys). I wouldn’t say that I am a huge fan, but I have been rooting for the Eagles for the last 4 years, and I was glad to see them win yesterday. And yes, I will be rooting them on in the Super Bowl.

Strangely, I’m a Philly fan first-and-foremost in every other sport. I die with the repeated Phillies ridiculous moves, cringe at how bad the Sixers are managed and bang my head against the wall every time Bobby Clarke pulls his stunts with the Flyers. So, my departure with the NFL is a bit odd, but set in motion far before I had a choice. So to those who ridicule me on a regular basis for being a Cowboys fan, take me or leave me as I am. But please, stop singing that stupid “Fly, Eagles, Fly” song. It’s really bad, and your voice sucks.

Daily Links »

• From the mouths of Grandmas… and one of the funniest entries in a long time.

I really like poker. I mean, I REALLY like playing – and I’m not really that good. My poker face sucks and I tend to be too cautious so when I do have a good hand, I end up winning far less than I should because everyone KNOWS I have a good hand and bails. But last night, I had a streak that just wouldn’t quit.

Sometimes, you can do nothing wrong. I started off the night with the following:

• a dealt flush in 5-card draw poker.
• a flush on the river in Texas Hold ‘Em.
• a full-house in Texas Hold ‘Em.

Then Steve sat down and muddied my mojo a bit, but I was still doing pretty well (2 more flushes, another full house along the way). All in all, a pretty good night at our mid-stakes ($40 a person, average) dealer’s choice game.

On the other hand, Darius must have pissed off Lady Luck something fierce. He could have had five-of-a-kind Kings and someone would have had five-of-a-kind Aces. It was that kind of night, typified by his luck at High-Low. For those of you who don’t know it, this game involves betting whether you can get a 3rd card between the first two that were dealt. For example, if you are dealt a four and a jack, you’d be betting that the card turned up between them will be a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. If not, you pay the pot your bet – in our case somewhere between 50 cents and the whole pot.

Darius, had at least SIX different combinations of 4-J or better, and lost them all. The cards would show up in his favor, but invariably would give him a losing deal. It started becoming a bane to get those cards because you KNEW that you were going to get screwed. But he kept hesitating and then making the fateful bets – and sweetening the pot. And his bad luck didn’t abate after that – he kept hemorraghing cash game after game, giving up a full house to a better full house, losing a straight to a flush, pulling 21 only to have the dealer also get 21 – resulting in a push. It was tragic. I haven’t seen luck that bad since a friend drafted Rob Moore in the 4th round in fantasy football – about 30 seconds before the announcement of his season-ending injury (of course, pundits would say drafting Rob Moore up that high deserved that stroke of luck).

Of course, I came out $35 ahead, so I walked away snickering.

Daily Links »

• Relax, Everything Is Deeply Intertwingled: Weblications
• CSS min-height hack – fairly simple hack for addressing the height of divs

When we went out with my friend Chris last weekend, he mentioned a great prospect to me – the fact that he wants to open a pub in Virginia. I’m not ready to give up my day job, but that sounds like a great opportunity. We have both worked at bars before, and I loved doing so even though I know how difficult it can be to manage them. Still, the idea of opening up a British-style pub with a good beer selection, good music and good food in a college town is hard to pass up. Most likely, I’ll end up as a consultant in this, helping him out where I can, but it is a tempting offer to get involved on the ground floor.

We did agree on this – it would NOT be the chic place to be, but would HAVE to have good food, good music and good beer (but not necessarily in that order). Our minds were on the same page – jalapeno burgers like we used to get at the West End Tavern, good blues and jazz music on the stereo or live (preferably), and a good selection of beers without being ridiculous. It’s where I would like to hang out, and there is that bit of nostalgia that remembers all of the good times I had bartending … although it’s way past time for me to be doing that now…

I am so looking forward to this holiday – family squabbles notwithstanding. It’s nice to be able to break the budget on what we’re spending and not feel completely guilty. It’s fun to make cookies and other treats to give out to neighbors, friends and family. It’s been fun to joke with my wife and son about what they think they are getting, what they assume they are getting and what they actually are getting (coal and socks, respectively, by the way). Seriously, I’ve never seen my wife this way – actually trying to figure out what is in the boxes. Usually, that’s me.

Last weekend, I got to see my old friend Chris and a large portion of his family. He, his wife, his sister and sister-in-law all met Shari and I down at Ludwig’s Garten in Philly. I forgot how much I liked that place, but quickly remembered with a flight of Belgian ales and a second flight of holiday beers (including a very strong Samichlaus and a delicious Delerium Noel. The jaegerschnitzel was delicious, although I think that their prices have gone up significantly since the last time that I ate there. But aside from the food and the beer, it was great to see Chris and his clan again – they are great people and it was nice to see Chris home safely from the war.

But back to Christmas – I’m looking so forward to Xmas morning: our new puppy having his first Xmas (and first pig’s ears). The look on my wife’s face when she finally figures out how right or wrong she was about those gifts (hint: it’s not a blender). The fact that I got at least one good gadget off of my tech geek list (when I thought about it, my ‘wishlist’ was an iPod, a 17″ LCD monitor, TiVO, a PDA and a new Wacom pad – how geek can you get?). The fire in the background as we slowly wake up with hot cider. Too bad we aren’t going to have snow, although I have thought about grinding up some ice to put on the sill of the front bay window for effect…

Meanwhile, there’s baking to be done, a few gifts to be wrapped and I’m loving every minute of it. And that’s what Xmas is about, right?

Today should be a good day. For the first time in a week, I’m feeling like my old self, which aside from being tired means that I should be productive again. Those studies about lost work when sick workers come in anyway – all true. I still got essential stuff done, but I know that I wasn’t 100% while doing it. My new PC shows up today, as well. I got the old one working enough that I can most likely get the data off of it that I need, but it will still be a pain to load up all of the software and other stuff that I have accumulated over the last couple of years. I managed to get everything backed up to CD-R, which will help, and starting off with a clean system will be nice since I now know how much of the junk I had I actually need. Still, my wife has already said good night to me because she knows I’ll be tied up in the office all night… good woman.

In design news, the revamping of the Mystique site is 99% done. It took a while to get everything that I needed from him, but it looks good. Not too many changes – just some image tweaks and a couple of new pages. I finally found a mailing list that I think will work – just a matter of finishing the configuration and playing with the stylesheet to make it match. It’s nice getting another project done – and I already have one for later this month that I will be working on.

Links »

• and so the drilling starts…
• Mass Exodus from Bush Administration - don’t the rats usually bail just before the ship sinks?
• Oh, Canada! – Canada is welcoming new American ex-pats.