Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Tonji]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29853787

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is off on his travels again at 75.

As a kid I got into reading through the likes of him & Sir Francis Chichester, devouring the local library shelves for all true life adventure. Chris Bonnington, Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, John Blashford-Snell...

Wonderful to see the tradition of Boy's Own daring-do still alive.

Tonji! 

I didn't know we had so much in common.

ha, yes. I like my mini adventures. But unlike you I've never ridden a motorbike!

[arbboy]

In my latest Bluff Europe waffle, I attempt to name the Elder Stateman of UK & Irish poker now that Liam has moved on. Go on then, try & name your candidate. I crossed a few names off the list for you.  

Then I ask you to name the 2 biggest money winners in the history of the GUKPT. Betcha cant do that correctly without googling. Clues - Thewy is 3rd., Kimber 4th, Pab 5th. But 1 & 2?


http://bit.ly/13oT2L3

I have barely played a hand of poker in two years and even I know this is clearly the Dazzling Cornelius of Smethwick!!!!  The elder statesman that is not the biggest money winner......the only man I have ever met that can render ArgueBoy speechless....

Proper legend.  He has been playing a lot recently at dtd in the 125's at the weekend last few times i have been there.  All the usual table chat which is totally standard with Con.  I can't remember the last time i saw him and he didn't say to some kid 'i have been playing this game for 55 years son you can't teach me anything'

[tikay]

Sorry for the lack of replies from me the last 2 weeks, life has been a bit hectic one way & another, & when I do Diary stuff, I need plenty of time. To waffle.

Fingers crossed, I can start getting up to date now.

I have more excuses than enough, but a few of them are....

So busy at work at the moment, &, at last, am enjoying it again, after a fairly challenging 12 months. We all have times at work which are more or less enjoyable than usual, but it has been quite a tough year.

Now, though, & for the moment, all is good, & I have plenty of stuff on my desk. They mostly just give me little jobs to do these days (who needs or listens to old people?), but it's important to me to try to do it well. It won't last much longer, but I want to do my best until the very end.

A lot of work went into the Chris Moorman thing, but it all came out very well indeed, so that was very satisfying.

UKOPS starts tonight. It's not exactly WCOOP, but it's all relative, & I get odd jobs associated with that, mostly puff-related. I've spent a few hours this morning on that, too, & tonight, whilst Moorman is playing 2 NLH Events, including the High Roller, I'll actually play one myself - the £22 PLO. PLO on Sky Poker is a rare beast, so quite looking forward to that. I'm not exactly playing well at the moment, have not been since I went to Vegas, but thats the beauty of poker, you never know, do you? 

The UKPC 6-Max Series on Sky Sports starts tomorrow, too. I had to sit & watch all 7 Episodes before they were sent to Sky Sports to check for errors, continuity, graphics, & any obvious mistakes. There are worse jobs than being paid to watch poker I suppose!

I have a file on my desk titled "Next UKPC?", too, which has caused me all sorts of furrowed brows, headaches & stuff. Again very satisfying, gradually, one by one, solving the problems & challenges. Or trying to. I'm mostly a message carrier really, though "translator" would be more appropriate, as Rob & Sky Poker talk in different languages & have different business cultures, so thats pretty interesting, & everything goes via me really, then I "translate" & pass it on. There is a pattern to the 2 way flow of e-Mails, too - Sky Pokers always arrive late afternoon, when I'm trying to wind down ((I try to start at 6am & finish early), whereas Rob sends his e-Mails between 3am & 5am every day, & Nick Whiten usually operates during morning hours. Jack Spratt & all that.

Went up to Leeds on Thursday for a Meet, best Meet I've had there in 8 years, so I came back full of the joys of spring. Which is usually the time when a great big dark cloud tends to appear in my blue sky. Whatever. 

Been involved in some other Sky Poker stuff, too, which is a bit delicate to discuss right now, but very exciting. Lining up all the little soldiers is quite interesting when these things happen.

I've been rather unwell for a few weeks, too. Self-inflicted, of course (chest, caused by ciggies, yes yes), which continues, but it's better than it was.  I never touched a ciggie for 10 days, then, yesterday, I felt a little better so I had a quick puff, & immediately coughed my head off. How daft am I?

And what about poor PokerStars, everyone suddenly hating on them because they had the temerity to put prices up? Incred scenes. Fortunately, we all have a choice, & can choose where to play our poker. Or not.

See how I waffle on when I get 5 minutes?

[tikay]

Going to start with a piece of music, even though I'll get grief - & rightly so - for not yet answering the previous music questions related to my amazingly good taste in music.

I've been looking for this clip for ages, but found it by chance yesterday, whilst having a bit of a google discovery journey about something else.

It's my favourite version by far of that wonderful ditty "Easy (Like Sunday Morning)", by Faith No More.

For reasons inexplicable, I had gotten it in my mind that this was a Pearl Jam track (wtf?), but it all clicked yesterday.   

I was quite big into Faith No More back in the day. I think they fell apart some 15 years ago, but have recently re-formed, & performed some UK Concerts earlier this year.

At one time, Courtney Love, Pop musics most refined, delicate & impeccably mannered young warbler, was involved with them, but I doubt thst lasted long, Courtney tended to flit around a lot.

Click to see full-size image.

There was also a famous tiff between the Faith No More lead singer Mike Patton, & RHCP's Kiedis, after Hatton mocked & mimicked Kiedis. That was always going to end badly for Hatton, obv.

Anyway, I really love this version.

Enjoy. Right up Tom's street, this.

[tikay]

From pantomine villain to media darling, the boy scrubs up well when he tries, eh?

Worth a fortune, too. Fair play to him.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

How many tabs do you keep open on your computer at any one time? It must say a lot about us if we knew what interested us.

On a PC, I generally have 8 or 10 open all the time, but I have to close them down every night when I log off. 

On my I-pad, I tend to keep them permanently open, as I never turn it off, & I use them as reminder of stuff I want to discuss, or re-visit.

Not sure this will work, but I currently have around 35 tabs open.

Here goes......

This lady drove me nuts last night on the Breeders Cup coverage with her squeaky voice when talking, so I had to look her up.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Chenoweth

Quite an interesting character, it seems, & very successful, but yikes, that trillly shrilly voice drove me nuts.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

The next few tabs are because I'm off to Geneva shortly for a few days.

I had hoped to do the CERN Tour, (which actually abuts the airport) but incredibly, it is booked up months in advance. Bugger.

So it'll be there little Lake on a boat, Lausanne, & that sorta thing I suppose.

Anyway, the first thing to investigate - obv - is the airport.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_International_Airport

It actually straddles both Switzerland & Frenchie land, & I thought this was quite interesting.....


To provide for jet traffic, in 1960 the runway was extended to its current length of 3,900 m (12,800 ft). This is unusually long for an airport of this size, and could only be built after some territory was exchanged between France and Switzerland. The north-eastern end of the 1946 runway had also been the frontier between Geneva and the neighbouring French commune of Ferney-Voltaire. The runway extension needed to use land that was then French, and an international agreement was needed whereby the necessary land was transferred from France to Switzerland, and territory of identical size, also adjacent to Ferney-Voltaire, transferred in the opposite direction. In this way, Switzerland remained exactly the same size, and its neutrality remained unsullied

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I was channel flicking the Sports Channels, & caught a bit of the World Superbikes, then, as "fill", they showed some footage from the Dundalk Road Race. Jeez, that stuff is super scary.

The race was won by this chap, so I had to look him up.

Quite an amazing interview, this.

http://www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/Bardney-rider-Ivan-Lintin-don-t-talk-risks-Isle/story-16236278-detail/story.html



Those Dundalk Road Races are just the scariest thing ever, whizzing past telegraph poles & trees at 200 mph, with no safety barriers or guard rails. Respect to those lads, so brave.

Click to see full-size image.

[Karabiner]

Robbie Savage looks a little like a younger lobotomised Richard Branson.

[Tal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine

Summary of his life in an article in the Independent:

"Made corsets, nearly died from poverty, sailed to America, wrote a pamphlet advocating American independence which became the best-selling book ever, persuaded George Washington on the case for independence, helped form the first American government, fell out with Washington over slavery and corruption, and left America penniless. Became obsessed with bridges and built a huge one in a field in Paddington because he couldn't afford to put it over anything. Wrote a book supporting the French Revolution that became the best-selling book ever, was threatened with execution so wrote Part Two in which he worked out how to redistribute every penny in England, for example on a welfare state, including paying for the funerals of the poor (Which would drive the Daily Mail mad: "We uncover the cheats deliberately dying to get their free coffins.") Fled to France, became part of the revolutionary government, jailed by the revolution, escaped the day before his execution was due, fled to America, wrote a book denouncing the Bible from memory, died penniless - is that enough?"

[Claw75]

Have you ever considered trying an e-cigarette Tony? I got a cheap one off amazon a few years ago but didn't really get on with it. I'm having another go at ditching the fags atm (more for financial reasons than health i must admit) and have invested in a decent electric jobbie from a company called Green Smoke. Been using it a couple of weeks and have had the odd lapse, but from being a 20 a day smoker have had a total of 10 or so since I started using it. Still confident of dropping the analogues (as the techy vaping geeks on t'internet call them) for good in the very near future.

[RED-DOG]

Have you ever considered trying an e-cigarette Tony? I got a cheap one off amazon a few years ago but didn't really get on with it. I'm having another go at ditching the fags atm (more for financial reasons than health i must admit) and have invested in a decent electric jobbie from a company called Green Smoke. Been using it a couple of weeks and have had the odd lapse, but from being a 20 a day smoker have had a total of 10 or so since I started using it. Still confident of dropping the analogues (as the techy vaping geeks on t'internet call them) for good in the very near future.

Tony will ignore this advice on the following grounds..

A- It's well intentioned.

B- It's sound.

C- He's an idiot.

[teamonkey]

but D) Fan of Faith No More

can Teeks do no wrong??

[Karabiner]

Half past midnight tonight on BBC4: Otis Redding:Soul Ambassador.

I challenge you to watch it and explain afterwards what you dislike about his oevre.

 

[Redsgirl]

Half past midnight tonight on BBC4: Otis Redding:Soul Ambassador.

I challenge you to watch it and explain afterwards what you dislike about his oevre.

 

New word for me oevre, had to resort to google for the definition as I was sure Mr Redding didn't have any particular affinity with eggs.

Huge fan of Otis though, yesseram.