The end of this long trip is drawing near, and I think I’m going to make it back home to see my boys and my wife. A few highlights from the trip:
>> Having a camera in hand made me stop and really see America and Canada. There is beauty literally most everywhere, and I really started slowing down and seeing things once I started taking more photos. >> I thought I was pretty used to long times of being alone, but I underestimated all of the interaction I have with my family on a daily basis. >> I like to think I’m fine not being with others, but I think I’m actually healthier when I’m interacting with other people. The fact that I have to fly somewhere to find a safe haven to be with someone else is a problem pointing to some flaws in me. I need to create opportunities to be with people. >> I need my family, need each of these boys, crave the intimacy with my wife. >> I’m still unsure about all of the career questions I had, and I’m not sure if this helps clear things up or not. I don’t think I want to return to being gone 60-80% of the time, although I do like being utilized and doing good stuff. >> It is strange how easy it is for me to slip into deep, intimate discussion about myself with the friends I’ve made online. I’m very thankful that I was able to see everyone on this trip, if only for a brief glimpse. It kept me going.
skidoo is trying to walk me through a new Outlook problem that crept up yesterday, and I have to head to my next set of meetings. For anyone hanging with me, thanks for stopping by and for all your support. Have a great weekend.
Not sure if I slept in the bed Tiger did, but I at least stayed in the small inn that he stayed at during last year’s US Open. Some gorgeous shots of the thick snowy blanket around the Allegheny River (I put up a few of them). Heading to the airport, flying to Birmingham this afternoon.
I have to confess, I’ve felt pretty miserable and alone the last two days. Not much fun, and I return now to why I’m trying to keep up with this site as I travel from place to place. As I’ve drifted away from poker and Bloglines and Google Reader have continued to flourish, I’ve become more and more alone online. Couple that with being away from my wife and boys, and it’s a fairly isolated feeling.
I played some poker last night to try and numb things, but not much luck. Lost my buy-in at the Argosy, somehow lasting through having aces cracked on the first hand, then later catching kings on consecutive hands and losing both of them. I got down to $85 after shoving on a 888J board with QJ (short-stack caller had A8, and another guy had J2), then busted on a board of 5c-7c-2s-Js when I’d bet the flop with my 6c-8c and shoved the turn (big stack caller had As-4s) and caught his flush on the river).
I’ll be extremely busy when I get back Friday, working non-stop over the next five days to analyze data that would normally take me 2-3 weeks. My wife is headed away for a Women’s Retreat at church, leaving Friday I think right before I arrive. I’ll be so glad to see the boys, but it will be a pretty rough weekend for me.
Horrible day this Sunday. The Cliff’s Notes version:
4:45AM wake-up 5:15AM breakfast (room service) 5:35AM leave for airport 6:15AM check-in, find out my Air Canada flight is actually United; flight delayed two hours, I’ll miss my connection; re-booked on American Airlines flight 10:15AM take-off 3:30PM flight attendant tells us we’re arriving at C29, my flight is at 4:47PM at gate B22A 4:08PM get off plane 4:12PM find a cart to run with my luggage down one terminal to the end of Terminal B 4:17PM gate agent at B22A tells me flight left (United flight, not American), so I start running to Terminal 2 4:25PM gate agent tells me he doesn’t have time for me, go to Customer Service 4:30PM Customer Service tells me I should be at Terminal 3; I miss the flight, they re-book me on a 7:30 United flight. 5:00PM I eat at Chili’s Too (boneless buffalo wings) 5:30PM I find the gate, ask the agent to check on my bag; she says it is still at Chicago O’Hare 7:30PM Board flight to Cincinnati 9:45PM Get off plane, head to Baggage Claim 10:15PM Realize United has indeed lost my luggage 11:00PM Finish with United’s Baggage Services, get on rental car van 11:15PM Leave rental car place 11:55PM Check into hotel 12:40AM Find Wal-Mart to purchase my snazzy new outfit for tomorrow 1:15-2:05AM Try to do heavy lifting on creative work; not much luck with too much stress and worn out. Heading to bed.
A great day Saturday in my quick trip up to Vancouver from Portland to see Fuel55. I’ll try to have a longer trip report at the airport if I have time (4:45AM wakeup call this morning and have to rush to my flight in a few minutes). We both played in a $200+20 6-max NLHE event yesterday. He busted out fairly early, I lasted to 26/120 with 15th the cash bubble. I lost a big pot with 9’s vs 6’s all-in pre-flop (she spiked a six on the turn), then I was moved to a fairly aggro table where I just couldn’t make it happen. I stole enough to last a couple levels and was a double-up from getting into the cash and making a long run. I probably played overly nitty, but whatever.
I’m a movie crier, no question. I will cry at the drop of a hat in most any movie. It’s one of the reasons I so enjoy seeing movies with my wife, so we can turn into one big slobbery mess if there is cause for it. Of course, there are the guy crying movies, like Brian’s Song or Where the Red Fern Grows or We Are Marshall.
Trailer for “Brian’s Song”
Huntington WV Premier of “We Are Marshall”
But no, I’m talking about the real heartstring movies. My favorite to cry to I discovered when watching Sleepless in Seattle.
Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in “An Affair to Remember” has to be one of the best, well-made romantic movies of all time. I turned on AMC, and there were the opening credits. So many great one-liners, Cary Grant at his charming finest, on and on. So funny at times, always just terrific. I’ll make a video later of the climactic scene, which you can see here (SPOILER ALERT: if you’ve never seen the movie, then don’t watch this).
I made it out for a very nice sunrise this morning and have several hours to work before heading to my next meeting. I’ll be heading to Vancouver tonight to see Fuel Saturday. He’s currently playing in the HU championship and is up against his good buddy, Alan. Should be a great best of five series.
This was a day with great interactions that I’d just as soon forget.
I spent a few hours Tuesday evening at Casino Arizona, sort of heading back to my roots of poker. I bought a hundred white chips and played $4/8 LHE, the game I’d learned poker at. I was up to $195 at one point but a turn raise in a kill pot with an open-ended flush draw couldn’t push K3o off of his two pair. I ended up down $30 for the evening.
I had a great lunch with one of the guys who changed my life. JP hired me from my job leading a small consulting division in a market research company, giving me a salary which was more than my wife and I made combined. With that, we moved to Phoenix, where we had the first of our three boys.
I was able to make an earlier flight and get to Seattle in time for dinner with Mrs. Chako. While the meal wasn’t rushed, I think we both had our minds elsewhere. Her boys and nanny were arriving from a week away within the hour, and my mind was on work and a rough call with my wife regarding work and on and on. As we sped away to our destination, I was definitely glad that we’d gotten a meal, but I was also glad that she was rushing off to see her kids at the airport.
I found my way to the B&B on Puget Sound. I played some low stakes stud, four-tabling to numb myself to sleep more than anything. It is a gorgeous evening, and I was able to get here as the lunar eclipse was finishing up. I’ve kept the cottage I’m in cold, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe to punish myself a bit, I don’t know. Tomorrow is an early start then I head to Portland. Riveting, I know…
I flew to Denver last night, again with precious little time to spare to meet up with someone I’d only corresponded with in email or in the comments of my blog.
Jason has always been a big encourager of mine, especially during my times at the WSOP. He is a young father of two girls and a boy, all under the age of nine. He is something called a Worship Leader, the person in contemporary Christian worship services who plans and leads the music, as well as prepares the band/musicians. He and his family lived in Vancouver, and his church there was growing.
And like that, he and his wife decided to leave the certainty of things going well to head to Denver to an uncertain immediacy. He felt it was what he and his family were supposed to do, and so they left. Fast forward to today, and he’s been designing websites along with some part-time worship leader assignments before recently signing up for a church planning to head to inner-Denver.
Why have I inconvenienced my travel plans to see these people, to see Kat and Jason and Michelle and Fuel? It’s because I am in need. I need the nourishment of speaking and connecting with someone else. Maybe I have a safe haven sharing a meal or coffee with someone thousands of miles away. Maybe my defective, dysfunctional interpersonal skills somehow become unlocked and freed when I’m with strangers who care about me. I have no idea.
Off to the airport now to return the car then head to Phoenix, a city of very mixed emotions for me. My wife and I continued our big adventure in life there, moving from New Jersey to Phoenix in 1994. Our first son was born there, I thrived in my career, I had my largest client there. Such a far away place, those times.
Have these times been special? Absolutely, there is no doubt. Lunch with Kat and Keith, coffee with Jason, these have been incredible
