Farewell to Hunny Bear

Today Monica and I said goodbye to our best friend in the whole world.

Late Thursday night Hunny Bear started gasping and couldn't catch his breath.  We rushed him to the local ER vet and many tests and adventures later -- including transporting him with a portable oxygen tank -- we determined he had fluid in his chest which not only made it hard for him to breathe but was cancerous.  They were able to drain the fluid to make him more comfortable so we brought him home Saturday to pamper him.  He was still having difficulty breathing last night and this morning and we knew it was his time.

I share how Hunny Bear died, because I know everyone will ask and I would if it were your dog, and it gives a sense of closure, but I'd rather talk about how he lived. And Hunny Bear lived like a prince. Our dogs are our "kids" and we spoil them -- premium food, lots of love, lots of treats, and even the specialty vets know us by name. Our floors our covered with dog beds but the dogs usually sleep between us in, and we upgraded to a king bed for them. But because Hunny Bear was our first dog -- Monica got him when he was eight weeks old -- and the #1 dog, we spoiled him just a little bit more, though please don't tell Cocoa. While Hunny Bear wasn't the cutest, the cuddliest, the smartest (if you can get OUT the dog door how hard can it be to get back in), or the sweetest, he was the toughest.His vet described him as stoic.  Despite problems with multiple organs, per his blood tests, he never showed any sign of being sick and just wanted to live life to the fullest.

And we think he did.  When we spent two months driving across the county in 2004, Hunny Bear and Emily were with us every step of the way. When Monica and I drove to the Grand Canyon and saw the National Parks in Utah, Hunny Bear was there alongside us. And at the end of the trip when I dropped Monica off at Angels Gate and made the 18-hour drive home he rode shotgun. He was the best listener ever. Hunny Bear has been to more states and stayed in more nice hotels than most people. He saw Mt Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful and many more historic sites. Our favorite trip with him was probably just to get away for the weekend to Seattle or Portland. He was an incredibly well-behaved hotel guest and house guest.

I remember the first time I really met Hunny Bear. I picked Monica up at her apartment -- we weren't even dating yet -- and she wasn't quite ready so I waited in her living room. Hunny Bear barked at me the whole time and when I tried to pet him he ran away and barked some more. At the time I thought damn, I really like this girl and her dog hates me; I'm doomed. Of course, it worked out and I learned that little Hunny Bear is Monica's protector, barking at every stranger who comes into Monica's home, and many friends as well.

I have lots of wonderful memories about Hunny Bear that make me smile but I'll share this one in closing. Monica and I have been very active as volunteers with Seattle Beagle Rescue. Every year SBR hosts two Beaglefest fund raising events where beagles and their friends are welcome. Hunny Bear wasn't particularly what I'd call a trouble maker, but he was very food motivated. At Beaglefest he sat right in front of the "people food" hoping someone would drop something or not pay attention and he could steal food out of their hand. He perfected his technique so well that I coined the phrase "It's not a Beaglefest until Hunny Bear steals a cupcake". And even though I warned everyone who took a cupcake and pointed out Hunny Bear, he always found a way.

So in memory of Hunny Bear, have a cupcake today, or better yet steal one from a friend.

Deep Stack Poker Today

I played the Hideaway Sunday noon deep stack today.  You start with 200 big blinds and rounds are 20 minutes, so there's actually some poker play before stacks become short.  I'm going to try a bit different reporting format.  Note that the tournament starts with 100-200 blinds.

I finished 8th of 22, which means I played a while and didn't get any money.

Why I lost:

1. I played only B+/A- poker and could have played better.
2. I got unlucky.  And this was the primary reason.

I sounds like sour grapes to say I got unlucky but given how tournaments play you need to make some hands AND get paid when you do or win a lot of coin flips.

I believe I pushed all-in and risked my tournament life twice the entire tournament.  Once in the middle stages I re-raised pre-flop with AA and my opponent folded and even if called I would have been all-in with the nuts.  The other time was my last hand.

And the former hand is a good example of how I got unlucky.  In the first round of the tournament I flopped the nut flush draw, turned the flush and got paid off by a player who flopped a straight.  And that's the only time by big hands really got paid off.  I won a ton of pots, but most were raising pre-flop and taking blinds or taking it down with a continuation bet, often when I had nothing.

I had a stretch of hands where I had KK, QQ, and KQ and couldn't even get any action on my pre-flop raises.  With QQ I raised just more than 2 BB in EP.  With KQ I raised less than 4 BB from the small blind after 2 limpers.

3 key hands that made or broke the tournament for me:
1) The aforementioned AA hand.  I think I played this pretty poorly.  I had about 53000 in chips.  With blinds 1500 and 3000, MP raises to 10K, I have AA in SB and after thinking a bit decide to shove since any re-raise commits me.  I also though the oversized raise might look weak.  This was bad for two reasons.  First, he still has to call off most of his stack here.  And unless he has a top 5 hand it's not likely.  Second, with AA I'm so far ahead I can afford to slow play.  In retrospect I should have smooth called and check-raised all in on the flop.  Might have busted, but likely could have won 15K or maybe 40K more. (Note that something seems off here but perhaps this was the start of the level.  The next hand seems to have happened way later.)
2) Last hand before the second break.  Blinds are 1500/3000 about to go to 2000/4000.  UTG shoves for 30K and it folds to me in BB.  I know UTG understands short stack play and that he doesn't have time to wait.  I have 66 and it's going to cost me 1/3 of my stack, which is borderline for calling.  I decide that so much of his range is two-big cards that I should call.  He says "nice call" and rolls over A2s.  He catches an ace on the river and instead of being up to 123K and first or second in chips, I have 62K and an average stack.  This is killer.  I realize I'm going to lose 30% of the time and that's poker.   But I KNOW to win I need to win pots like this.
3) I had raised and won the pot uncontested pre-flop about 4 of the last seven hands (I had K8, KK, QQ, KQ so it wasn't just moves).  I showed KK once.  Action folds to me on the button with KJs.  This is a raising hand but I'm concerned someone will play back at me.  My error is that they two player in the blinds are so tight that they aren't going to play back with less than a premium hand.  SB and BB calls.  Flop is JT6 all clubs, it checks to me and I bet 12000 into 18000.  SB raises to 25000 and I call.  Turn is a 2 and she shoves for the pot.  I think a long time and decide I don't want to go broke here.  Should have raised PF, should have shoved the flop, should have called her shove knowing her game.

Lost too many chips on that last hand and put me in bad shape the rest of the way.

Meier got 4th place, which was nice for him.  Will definitely play this again.

Happy New Year

Yeh, the blog has been dead but not forogotten.

Short version.  November was insanely busy.  Hunny Bear got sick.  We were going like nuts at work trying to ship a product.  My parents came to visit for a week at Thanksgiving.  We got the crazy weather the same week.  And this continued into the first part of December.

And then, every time I'd look at the blog or think about the blog, I'd say to myself I have 5 posts I NEED to write and well I don't have time for that now.  Anyway, hope to write more on:

• Hunny Bear
• Crazy weather
• Da Bears
• Work and job hunting (past tense)
• Poker
• 
  

Douchebag of the week

inspired by "redright's" series of a similar name

This actually happened a couple of weeks ago but I still want to share.  I advertised a number of Mariners bobbleheads on Craigslist.  I was contact by someone asking to purchase 5 of them and offering me $85 which he said was $10 off what I had asked.  I noted that Griffey had been sold but I could sell the other 4 for the same $85 which was $10 off.  I hope he mis-added and wasn't trying to scam me.  He then changed his mind on which ones he wanted but the cost was the same.  We agreed to meet over the weekend, likely Saturday, when he'd be in the Factoria area.

Saturday afternoon he emailed me and said the day was busy so we set up an 8 AM Sunday meeting time (I had plans during the day).  I arrived at 8, waited a few minutes, then checked my email to see he had said his car was frozen shut and he couldn't make it.  It was cold but not cold enough to freeze car doors.  I responded that we could touch base around 5 PM.  I called him at 5 and he never called back.  I emailed him Monday or Tuesday and never heard back.

I don't mind so much that he reneged on a deal. That's the nature of dealing with people through Craigslist.  That he gave me the run around over the weekend and didn't have the courtesy to call, text, or email that he was sorry but he had to back out of the deal is what gets me. Given the energy I spent on this transaction, I was barely making any money even if he did show.  Acceptance reasons for this behavior are 1) death, 2) brain death.

Playoffs x2

With the college football season nearing the end of October, talk of a playoff system is heating up again.  Having 7 teams undefeated and a handful of very strong one-loss teams makes the noise a bit louder than in typical years.  As well, it's almost a certainty that Boise State and either TCU or Utah, who play each other, will wind up undefeated.  And so there's a chance we'll have three or four undefeated teams prior to bowls.  And thus a "deserving" team would be left out of the Championship if that happens.

The problem with a playoff system, and why I don't like any of the ideas I've heard, is what we're seeing in baseball this year.  The playoffs have been competitive and entertaining for sure. And having the Rangers and the Giants in the World Series is a compelling story and a nice change from Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies.  However each league is represented by the weakest of its four playoff teams.  We played 162 games to determine that the Yankees, Rays, Phillies, and Braves were the best team and then played 10-12 games to decide to send someone else to the World Series. 

I'm not suggesting we go back to two divisions and only four team in the playoffs.  However I think college football "fans" are oblivious to what would happen in a playoff system.  I think there will be a lot of noise about TCU/Utah being left out of the National Championship, but would having Alabama play Missouri or Michigan State for the Championship make anyone feel better about the title?