Today's job search can be summed up in one word....

STRATEGERY

Yeah, I actually used that word in an interview today. After years of jokingly using it during meetings, I said it to someone who doesn't know my sense of humor.

Hopefully he:
1. Gets the joke and doesn't think I'm an idiot
2. Didn't even notice

Hey peeps. Opening day is less than a week away, and we still have a few slots left in our fantasy baseball league. It's $50/person and we already have a fun group of eight teams, including: Daddy, Iggy, Commish, Scurvy, Johnny Flopboot, Nick Christy, and Garthmeister J.

Join us. It'll give you a great reason to watch games like Royals-Rangers.

You know you want to take Daddy's money.

[5x5 league, NL & AL, draft is online on Thursday - you can configure a draft list to autopick for you]

Longtime readers know that in the past few years, my job has taken me to numerous cities across America and Europe. You name the city, and I’ve probably been there. And I’ve probably gotten a lap dance or three there as well.

Beginning in early January, there was a restructuring in my department. Because of this, I haven’t been required to do any business travel. My last trip was to Philadelphia, where I was able to hang with Al and Helixx at the Boathouse.

For the past two months, I’ve worked from home, waiting for the powers that be to give us their vision for our new group. For two months, I didn’t hear a word from the new leader of our group. He never introduced himself. Our leader never told us his plan or what had been accomplished in the restructuring.

I finally heard from him on Friday.

I was told that my position was eliminated and that my qualifications didn’t suit any positions in the new group. This is odd, because I’ve never met the man. He’s never asked for my resume and probably doesn’t know what my qualifications are. An HR rep was on the phone and explained the process. I sat with the phone in my hand. In shock. I didn’t say a word and hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

So I have two weeks to find another job within our company. Two weeks. They waited two months to tell me this. They couldn’t figure out what to do with me in two months, and I’m supposed to find a position in two damn weeks. I’ve already made contact with folks across the company and have a few leads.

Two weeks.

Two weeks to find a job.

Two weeks to steal as many fucking office supplies as possible.

I've started a Yahoo fantasy baseball league. It is a 5x5 league (NL and AL), with a live online draft on Thursday, Mar 30 at 8:00pm Central. The entry fee is $50/team. Even if you can't attend the draft, you can configure a list of players with your preferences.

Let me know if you're interested. Send me an email or drop a comment with your contact information if you're interested. I can then send you the group name and password.

Oh sweet Jebus. I forgot to wear my cup last night, and now my nads are up in my stomach.

I playeds in the HUC III last night. There was a little bit of confusion before the matches started, and I prayed hoped that I would get moved to another bracket.

No such luck.

In the first round, I was up against DoubleAs. Southern versus Duke. He smacked me around, left and right. On the final hand I had a ray of hope. With all my money in the middle, we both had top pair - but my kicker was better. I turned two pair. Then as DoubleAs typed "nh" - it happened - he got a straight. The match wasn't ever really close - although the it lasted longer than I thought it would.

Then came the lounge tourney. All I really remember was my last hand. Duggle raised from the button - I put him on a steal. In the BB I found K9 and stacked off. Duggle called with the best hand in poker. Yes, the mighty hammer. His two pair bested my unimproved hand.

Thanks to Veneno for setting everything up! Despite winning only two hands in three hours, it was a blast.

I signed up for the Heads Up Challenge III - knowing that I would be dead money. But I didn't realize that I would be the worst seed in the event!

I'm going to be in serious trouble Thursday night. My bracket includes Biggestron, DoubleAs, and TraumaPoker. Ouch. That's like putting Air Force in the same bracket as Duke, UConn, and Villanova. I need to come up with some strategery for playing with these guys. I'm thinking two bottles of Beaujolais, a pair of 32 sided dice, and a magic 8-ball.

~

Read the Poker Shark's posts on aggression in LHE. Really good stuff. Again.

~

I have the first pick in my baseball league on Friday night. Three things I hate about this.
1. I might have to pick A-Rod (hate the guy)
2. I might have to pick Pooh-Holes (hate the Cardinals)
3. I don't pick again until the 20th and 21st picks. This likely leaves me with guys like Michael Young, Chase Utley, Andruw Jones or Travis Hafner. Sucky.

~

DoubleAs wrote about the best hand he's ever played. I think I've written about mine before, but here it is:

The Ricker opened from EP with a standard 3xBB raise. In late position I found KK. I raised about 3x his bet, and Ricker insta-called. I immediately knew he had something decent, as he's a pretty tight player. The flop didn't look too bad: 7 10 Q (rainbow). Ricker went into the tank, and gave me time to think about how much I was going to bet. Then he bet into me - about half the pot. I wasn't expecting that at all. Ricker knows that I play tight, and that night he was playing so tight that his bones were creaking. I did my Hellmuth impersonation and said, "Get the ESPN cameras here. I've only folded this hand twice." I folded, and said, "Show me pocket queens." He flipped over pocket tens. I was close, but his set definitely had me beaten. I flipped over my cowboys, and everyone was quite surprised that I didn't at least call the small bet. For once, I went with my read, and it kept me from losing a big hand. It also resulted in me winning a big hand later in the night when a tricky player tried to make a move on me with a scary board while I held pocket aces.

Veneno is organizing the Heads Up Challenge III. They're looking to get 32 entrants, so go over and sign up. Many thanks to Veneno and Biggestron, TripJax, Jordan, and Iggy for the events they've set up over the past few weeks.

Just please keep me away from Drizz in the Heads Up Challenge. Please!

I've caught the t-shirt making bug from Falstaff and Bill. Take a look (and buy, dammit!) the shirt that's going to be sweeping casinos across the country!

How about - Barabbas?

Could you imagine me, in the delivery room, screaming:

"RELEASE BARABBAS!"
"GIVE US BARABBAS!"

Yeah, I'm drunk.

And my wife is going to kick my ass.

But this time it's because of good news. I've produced some excellent swimmers.

That's right. I done got my wife knocked up. She's due Oct 5.

Every day for the last two months, I've woken up with a grin and the thought "HolyFuckingShit!"

~

[Update] - Many thanks to all of you for your kind comments. Yes, this is our first. At least that I'm aware of. So Commish, this is going to be better than the time I landed a triple axel? Awesome!

A post from the previous weekend's activities coming soon...