Finally!

 

   So Ladies and Gentlemen, my shower is finally complete! Here are the before and after picture THE shower that I'm sure you are all familiar with by now. Not to shabby. It took twice the time that was expected but I am very happy with the outcome. Actually it could have looked like crap and I would be happy just to get my shower back. But, needless to say, it turned out great! We also got rid of the terrible yellow paint and now our bathroom looks like it belongs in a slightly newer home. 

On the poker side of things; I played in that Irish Baseball Charity tournament over the weekend. The turnout was about half of what it was last year and the quality of play and structure was ten times worse . I ended up placing sixth of about thirty or so which seems great, but the tournament only paid the top five. Suck. So I missed the money by one and was very glad to be out of the tournament with the pace of play mimicking that of a crawling snail. It was excruciating. It was filled with first time players and grandparents who used to play "back in the day". So my night consisted of explaining basic poker procedure and listening to "when i was a boy" stories. You could pay $10 for a cup that got you all the beer you wanted all night, and for that I was extremely grateful. After striking out on the tournament I went home and did a little political research about online regulation. Word on the street is it may be added to the coat-tails of the Pay Role Tax Cut bill currently sitting in Congress. I kind of doubt it will be added in such short notice though. And I have accepted to fact that I can't base my election vote strictly on online poker. There are to many problems much greater than that to be focused on. 

I really enjoyed Dr. Hochenauer's talk on Tuesday. It was nice to see how just a small blog can turn into such a highly respected, award winning publication. I don't really agree about anything he says from a political standpoint, but I respect that fact that in such a conservative state he has chosen to still talk in what he believes in. I think that is the main reason why his blog is still so successful. He is passionate about what he writes about.  

This shower better be Awesome

Ever so slowly the tiles are going up. We are looking at completing all the tile and floor work today and grouting it all tomorrow. That means Saturday we will be sealing everything and by Sunday i will be enjoying my brand new shower. ($1600 later) Oh well it was much needed. Now we just have to get rid of that gross, tacky yellow paint and we will be in good shape. So painting the bathroom will probably consume my entire day Sunday. Lucky me.

Now for some poker!!! (I know, this has been looking like a home improvement blog, I promise to stay as much on topic as I can from here on out). This Saturday night I will be participating in my little cousins annual charity poker tournament for his little league baseball team. Last year was the first year i participated and won the whole thing, something around $800, so that was nice. It's basically full of all these parents (who are both loaded with cash and alcohol) playing the type of poker they think they saw on ESPN the night before. Last year I made it heads up with this guy who had to be in his sixties who thought he was hot stuff. All I heard about was how he won a bunch of tournaments and that he has his own poker "room" at home that him and all his buddies play at every week. Anyways... We started out and he had me covered like 3 to 1 in chips. He thought he was in good shape and so did everyone else. 20 minutes later I had the chip lead and he was feeling "tired" (sucks for him). He tried to make a deal with me where we add up first and second place money and split it. I would end up getting around $400. Not a bad score, but i didn't spend the last five hours to not win so I respectfully declined. It didn't last much longer after that. I took him out and hopefully crushed his poker confidence .  So thats what I have to look forward to this weekend. Hopefully I come to class Tuesday being the two-time Irish Baseball Poker Champion (and with a new shower)