Ireland - dublin, last set of pix...

So, by the time we got to Dublin, we were halfway through the trip. We stayed close to St. Stephen's Green, met up with one of our former exchange students from England - (redhead with an Irish father, so really Jenn's long lost little twin sister) and wandered around Dublin for a few days..

Christ Church Cathedral

River Liffey, which runs right through the middle of town

Whiskey tasting at the Jameson Distillery. Johnnie Walker, Jameson, and Jack Daniels. Not surprisingly, JW tastes like peat/dirt, JD like burnt corn/gasoline, and Jameson so light and smooth (triple distilling) that's it's almost too neutral, like vodka. Note to self, if you become a distiller, naming product J-something is good luck.

We liked our beverages. I'm still mostly a Scotch man, though.

Kilmingham Gaol. This, and Dublin Castle (no pix, oops) were some of the better historic sites we saw in Dublin. The Office of Public Works really has a bunch of top-notch guides walking you through Irish history...

Random band playing on the streets of Temple Bar.
To be honest, they were actually pretty good.

Wall of Fame in Temple Bar with the usual suspects (U2, Thin Lizzy, etc) - and a lovely CCTV camera watching everything. Hello!

The baby makes more friends in Dun Laoghaire. This old couple was so hilarious sitting on a bench near the harbor. They weren't following the open container law either..

Jedward. These jagoffs need to disappear. Quickly. I saw far too much of them in Ireland, count yourself lucky they have not spread across the Atlantic yet. At least they can sell a nacho to their fellow Irishmen.

Streets of Kilkenny - we took a day trip to get out of the city and popped into a couple of places..

like Glendalough, where BabyGirlHeff got to do another fun thing - touch the historic rocks around this 6th century monastic settlement. That, she loved. The rain, not so much. Very soaked after this.

and the view flying out of Dublin across the countryside and hedgerows as we left for the States.

It's been about a month since we got back - and I do miss it. I think, if we could find equivalent jobs in Ireland (doesn't Tiltware have a presence in Dublin - or maybe I would just pour pints because I'm so chatty and conversational with strangers, not...) or if we won the lottery, we'd move there in a heartbeat.

We'd definitely be in the sticks, though. Not that Dublin wasn't bad... but I'm around a big city, I know what they are like. We both preferred the Irish countryside much, much more.

Living somewhere out near Dingle or Kenmare... now that would be an interesting life. In this day and age, you're so globally connected - those remote places just don't seem that far away anymore.

I'm just happy I got the chance to see Ireland. That's probably the best thing about my wife - she ends up making me do things I'd never get around to under normal circumstances. I feel bad for my daughter - she'll never remember any of this as she gets older - unless we take her again, of course.

OK, maybe this week I'll get the chance to actually play some cards and make $$$ like LJ.

As it is, I've got to go to New York (not the city, the state) with my pop to catch up with family for a couple of days, so any WCOOP play is probably not going to happen. Even AIPS may be tight on Saturday, and I'd hate to miss PLO8... :-(

This is a really low-volume month for me. A nice change of pace.

Ireland - driving, from Kenmare to Dublin...

Driving in Ireland was... interesting..

First off, there's that driving on the left thing, with the steering wheel on the right. That was weird enough.

wishing this was Mario Kart Wii and I had that bullet power-up

And there there was the other issue our one-day delay caused... We lost the automatic transmission for the rental car and had to drive a stick shift... - which wouldn't be so bad, after all, I learned to drive on a stick and my first car was a 1971 baby blue VW Beetle.

Of course, I got rid of that car at 18 and have only used a clutch a handful of times since. So there was an adjustment period. Plus, I was sleep-deprived, the gear shift was in my left hand, the roads have like no shoulder whatsoever... did I mention they were a little narrow?

Driving these buses through the passes must suck.

So yeah, that first day or so, I must have stalled out/missed shifts every 10 minutes, almost hit a car in the first roundabout I came across, and probably scraped something on the shoulder five or six times. It was not a relaxing experience. Oh, it took me a couple of hours and looking it up in the driver's manual to figure out where Reverse was - I knew where it was, but figuring out where the interlock/catch was to slide the gearshift over into it was another matter.

But, every day got better and better, to the point that by the time we were leaving Dingle for Kenmare, I was a reasonably competent driver. By then, it was just the small things - getting used to pulling into traffic... I felt like I was driving the mirror tracks on Mario Kart Wii.

No, I didn't buy the hat. I'm not that good of a driver.

So, picking back up the trip, we drove from Inch Beach to Killarney -

Inch Beach, which is actually like five miles long. Irish humor?

and yeah, Killarney, as has been written about, was a very touristy town with a lot of tour buses and it felt... a little busy (it was a Saturday) and far more... commercial than anything we'd seen so far on the western coast. I grew up in Virginia Beach, I have a pretty good feel for a "resort town" - and it's not a favored atmosphere to hang out in, We did stop and check out Ross Castle, which was a pretty interesting restored 15th century stronghold

Ross Castle, on the Lakes of Killarney

and Muckross House, which is as much a monument to 19th century largesse and going broke to impress royalty as anything else - and then a really nice drive through Killarney National Park on the way to the B&B just outside Kenmare.

Near Ladies View, Killarney National Park

View back through the park at Moll's Gap.

Had a wonderful lamb stew for dinner with some pints, and a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning we decided to check out the fair in Kenmare - Jenn has timed this stop to coincide with the biggest fair of the year in Kenmare - which was a odd mix of a flea market, farmer's market, and bazaar with all sorts of stuff. If you were into pellet guns, tools, or animals (yep, for sale there too) you were in luck.

Main Street in Kenmare

BabyGirlHeff wants a pet. Not.

Since we needed to be in Dublin by Monday morning to meet one of our former exchange students from England for a few days, we skipped out on the Ring of Kerry drive most books recommend, and started making our way across the country. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel, which dates back from the 12th century, midday

Impressive. And pretty high up too.

Rock of Cashel with Hore Abbey in foreground - not as close a walk as it appears

and then got bit by the biggest bugaboo of the trip - no iPhone data because we didn't want to get hosed by Verizon international data roaming charges. We drove into Dublin - and then almost immediately got lost because while there are a ton of signs all over the road, the one thing there wasn't enough of were street signs for the actual road you were on. Yeah, they are supposed to be up on the corner buildings... but in reality, you only see them a third of the time... Ordinarly, you just fire up the Maps App and get to where you're going that way... but now, we were doing this manually, me driving, Jenn reading the map.

So, at first, we kept stopping short (oh, we're too far deep into the city, we must be past the hotel) and once we finally got our bearings on the map - then it became, oh, how do we get there (all the one way streets and "you can't turn right" here intersections) before we finally puzzled it out after an extra 60 minutes tooling around the city... then we had to drive out to the airport to drop off the rental car (didn't need it in the city) and come back....

By the way, you drop off the rental at a major Irish airport... by parking it in the garage, bringing the key to the desk and telling them the mileage. Very different from the American experience.

So, we spent that day driving waywayway too much. But we were in Dublin for the second part of the trip, and we had a friend coming in Monday. All was still good, even if we wanted to kill each other by the end of the night ;-).

Hello Dublin. Boy are you hard to find stuff in...

Ireland - baabaabaabaa

A pause traveling between Dingle and Kenmare - now that I remembered something.

We drive out to Brandon Point. Tiny, tiny road for like 10 miles. Small town with three buildings, two pubs and a breakwater/boat launch area three miles from the point.


Even tinier road past that leading to the point, right on the Atlantic. We see sheep all up and down the mountainside - because obviously no horse or cattle can get up and down the terrain.

We get there - windy and breathtaking. Jenn takes photos, I walk around with BabyGirlHeff in one of those Hangover-style Baby Bjorns. We're about done, and Jenn says something about wanting to see a flock of sheep being driven down the middle of the road while we're in country.

And sure enough, on cue, as we get ready to leave - there's a flock of sheep changing pastures, coming up the road.



There's video of this that's just priceless...

Ireland, County Clare and Dingle

enough silly stuff about Ireland for now. Where did we actually go?

Cliffs of Moher/ The Burren - this was the first day after our missed connection, so I was sosotired and sleep deprived I barely remember it after landing in Shannon - but it was notable that 1) it was clear and sunny on the cliffs and 2) the wild landscape was such a headtrip - you hear about different countries and their unique topography, but to actually see it was another matter all together. Dopey Colgan Air cost us a night staying in County Claire over in Doolin...

Cliffs of Moher

The Burren

Dingle Peninsula - we made our way down, over the ferry from Killimer to Tarbert, and through Tralee to the B&B we were staying at for a couple of days. Freaking awesome view of the Atlantic Ocean from here

Yeah, ocean's just close enough to touch, great elevation.

The mountains are so close, looking back from the beach here.

After sleeping like nine billion hours, we traveled around, over to Brandon Point for a closeup view of the ocean.

Brandon Point from afar and closeup...

and then through Conor Pass to get to Dingle.

barely 3000ft. up, but yeah, that's a small road.

and then around the Dingle Peninsula

pretty much as far west as you can get and still be in Ireland..

and back to Dingle for a meal and some traditional music to wind up the day.

Dingle's a nice little town, just touristy enough without being annoying.

The next day, we took another pass across the peninsula through to Inch Beach

This road really wasn't on a map. "just turn left at the corner and go... lol"

before heading off the Dingle Peninsula to Killarney, Kenmare, and the Iveragh Peninsula.

We started the trip off on a high point. Jenn and I both enjoyed the trip around the Dingle Peninsula: it was our favorite area of Ireland, and we really could have used an extra day there. Just a nice, scenic, relaxed region - we joked if our jobs allowed it and we still got paid, we'd pick up and move in a heartbeat.

More to come...

Ireland - traveling with babygirlheff

was a lot smoother than I thought it would be.

Beehive huts on the Dingle Peninsula.

She's a really social baby who loves everybody - everywhere we went she just smiled at everyone and made friends galore. The only time she really got ornery was when we took her along on a guided tour of anything - that was her cue to use her voice and try to talk to the OPW guides.

Of course, it was nice when she snoozed in the car too.


In other news, finally hit the tables for the first time in a couple of weeks tonight. My usual play-bad, go oh-fer in SnGs with a couple of bubbles - then I get most of it back in 50NL Rush before I play this hand and realize I'm off my game.

I open two kings UTG+1 to $1.50 with $101 behind.
UTG+2 with $80 behind repops to $5.50.
Hijack jams for $35.

I tank fold like a bitch because usually one of these muppets has aces here and I didn't feel like playing a 375BB pot by the time all the stacks went in.

UTG+2 calls with QQ, Hijack's AQo (WTF?) does not get there, board runs clean for KK.

Yeah, I still suck.

return to the states...

(just an iPhone photo for now, appetizer for more pix soon...)

Hey, so we're back now. Traveling across oceans can be such a slog.

Ireland was teh nutz, though.

By popular demand (ok, just @jjok on Twitter) I'll probably put up a few posts/pix from the trip over the next few days to break up the inevitable "I play bad and still make minimal mobney away" posts I pollute this blog with.

It only took the wife a few minutes in Newark airport to wish she was back there. I can't say I blame her.

Finally...

Yeah, it's actually nice here. Time change is tough.

uh, yeah, this isn't very green...

my morning view



So, uh, yeah, screw Colgan Air and codesharing. At least they didn't kill us, merely had a dippy mechanical delay from DC that caused a missed connection and an overnight stay in Edison, NJ's finest Holiday Inn.

Which is like 30 minutes from Newark. Off the Jersey Turnpike. Arriving at midnight midweek with nothing open and nothing to drink or eat but Papa John's pizza.

So that's a winner. At least 1) we got $120 in food/drink comps with nowhere to use them and 2) we're flying on Biz First Class tickets, so we can kill time at the airport today in the bunnyfoofoo lounge until we catch the next flight 24 hours later.

I imagine I will be quite tipsy by the time we board.

off the grid

and in Ireland for a few days. Will have a Guinness or Jameson while I'm there...

WSOP sweat, hello!

yeah, guess we're all going to have to do a virtual sweat Friday night..


Lucko be going deep for a nice five or six-figure cash...

PokerNews or teh twitters will probably be the best way to keep track...

EDIT: damn, that was quick :-(

yes, I still can mook.

almost four tables for the Mookie Wednesday - which was a wonderful turnout, woot!

my night was eh... I get up to 6K by doing nothing all that interesting (save one spot) - then get down to two tables and run..

-TT into AK, don't hold, boo...,
-get flatted in a couple of spots where the flop just is all over villain's range and have to check/fold...,
-and finally shove AQ for 8BB from the button - into a standard UTG openlimp, then tank/minthreeball over my shove with (surprisesurprise) AA to bounce 15 of 35.

actually, the twin highlight of the night was the douche-off between JOELPOKERGOD and VBPro7 at my opening table. While they sniped at each other I got this move in...

Dealer: You have been dealt [Ad Tc]
Dealer: HighOnPoker folds
Dealer: hoyazo folds
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD raises to 150
Dealer: dawnsummers folds
Dealer: VBPro7 folds
Dealer: lightning36 folds
Dealer: heffmike calls 100
Dealer: The flop is [7c 8d 9d]
Dealer: heffmike checks
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD bets 300
Dealer: heffmike has 15 seconds left to act
Dealer: heffmike calls 300
Dealer: The turn is [5d]
Dealer: heffmike checks
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD checks
Dealer: The river is [5h]
Dealer: heffmike bets 600
JOELPOKERGOD: WTF
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD has 15 seconds left to act
JOELPOKERGOD: grr
heffmike: just slow roll it again dude. like you always do
JOELPOKERGOD: i have 10's
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD folds
Dealer: Uncalled bet of 600 returned to heffmike
Dealer: heffmike mucks
Dealer: heffmike wins the pot (925)

JOELPOKERGOD: thanks for reminding me
heffmike: lol, right
JOELPOKERGOD: im gonna slow roll ur azz any chance i get
JOELPOKERGOD: i did
heffmike: I'm sure you will
JOELPOKERGOD: i had 10-10 guess u bluffed me
heffmike: I guess i did.
JOELPOKERGOD: u think an 9 is good
JOELPOKERGOD: fken amature
heffmike: sir, you have a lot of nerve. but that's ok.

which led to this....

Full Tilt Poker Game #15650103973: The Mookie (113621035), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:36:15 ET - 2009/10/28
Seat 1: VBPro7 (6,724)
Seat 2: lightning36 (3,185)
Seat 4: heffmike (3,790)
Seat 5: HighOnPoker (3,630)
Seat 7: hoyazo (2,775)
Seat 8: JOELPOKERGOD (2,606)
Seat 9: dawnsummers (2,825)
JOELPOKERGOD posts the small blind of 30
dawnsummers posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heffmike [Jd Ts]
VBPro7 calls 60
lightning36 folds
heffmike folds
HighOnPoker folds
hoyazo folds
JOELPOKERGOD raises to 240
dawnsummers folds
VBPro7 calls 180
*** FLOP *** [Qs 5h 6c]
JOELPOKERGOD bets 420
VBPro7 calls 420
*** TURN *** [Qs 5h 6c] [3h]
JOELPOKERGOD has 15 seconds left to act
JOELPOKERGOD bets 1,946, and is all in
VBPro7: GG JOEL
VBPro7: should i slow roll you
VBPro7 has 15 seconds left to act
VBPro7: you punk
VBPro7 has requested TIME
VBPro7: 66 good?
VBPro7 calls 1,946
JOELPOKERGOD shows [Qh Ad]
VBPro7 shows [6h 6d]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 5h 6c 3h] [2d]
JOELPOKERGOD shows a pair of Queens
VBPro7 shows three of a kind, Sixes
VBPro7 wins the pot (5,272) with three of a kind, Sixes
JOELPOKERGOD stands up
VBPro7 stands up
lightning36 stands up
heffmike stands up
HighOnPoker stands up
hoyazo stands up
dawnsummers stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,272 | Rake 0
Board: [Qs 5h 6c 3h 2d]
Seat 1: VBPro7 showed [6h 6d] and won (5,272) with three of a kind, Sixes
Seat 2: lightning36 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: heffmike didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: HighOnPoker didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: hoyazo (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: JOELPOKERGOD (small blind) showed [Qh Ad] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 9: dawnsummers (big blind) folded before the Flop

The babygirl is amazingly good. She boggles my mind every day.

pop poop pop.

So, what have I learned in the first few days of daddyness?

-It's hard to make a crying baby happy when you aren't the one feeding her.
-You become overly fascinated and analytical about baby shit while changing diapers.
-Geez, they're really small and fragile.

Anyhow, so far so good. She seems A-OK for a newborn - I have no frame of reference, as it's the first baby I've been around, but the wife assures me she's on point.

I have dabbled in occasional PLO8 SnGs when I've got a moment and I'm watching the sleeping baby - just something to keep the mind engaged instead of watching TV or surfing Google Reader or something like that. Nothing of note to report. It's probably smarter to play a low-level cash game if I'm going to donk around, but really, I'm not doing anything that involves a huge chunk of bankroll or mental energy at the moment.

OMG, Ivey mucks a winner! - Big freaking deal. We all botch stuff sometimes. Just because he's great doesn't mean he's can't fuck up. I'm sure he finds it hilarious after the fact.

Perhaps I'll visit the Mookie tonite. We'll see. At least I have my own railbird now, lol.

oh hai there. welcome.

So yeah, that took freaking forever... Water breaks Wednesday, spend all day Thursday trying to make it happen, end up bagging up the chips and coming back for Day 2 on Friday - which again takes most of the day before finally happening around primetime... A little hairy in spots, but otherwise everyone made it out healthy and safe...

And so BabyGirlHeff arrives:

So yeah, it's time.

Jenn's water breaks Wednesday evening. Either she goes into labor like now, or we have to head into the birthing center at oh-dark-thirty Thursday morning and nudge things along.

But, there are more important things!

Does she get to watch Glee? (sure thing, what a deliciously wacky, stupid, entertaining show - although I didn't realize it was evolving into a crazy hookup show...)

Do I get to play the Mookie? (why not? wtf else can I do now? not like I can't just pickup and leave $11 behind if we have to leave on the bubble, lol. - yeah, and usual, I get coolered like crazy - run up a big stack to 14K, then river a nut flush into a runner runner boat, shove 53 into 63 for a chop on a 33x board, call a 7BB shove from the blinds with 55 and lose to 66 on a AKQxx board, finally run QQ into K8, which runner runner straights me to finish in 7th - so much for going out on a high note... bleh)

Am I really ready? (fuck no, but w/e. babygirlheff ain't waiting for me to figure it out. I'll wing just like I do at the tables, I guess - that usually seems to work... :-))

I'm already catching breaks. My mom went to the ER yesterday with a suspected heart attack - luckily it was diagnosed as simply stress-related and she should be fine for the near-term.

So let the run goot continue. Will update with the details when it all plays out...

how I spent my summer pt, 2

When I'm not stacking off with KKxx on a AKTr board in Skillz PLO - because I have the third nutz, I don't care if iaatg has a better hand, I'm sucking out - oh wait, I'm not, oh well....


BabygirlHeff's room before... peeling off the same shitty panelling that was in the basement - ty, previous owners, for gluing and nailing in this horrid stuff....


BabygirlHeff's room after.

I painted the base coat for the walls, but no, I'm not a real artist - friend of the family painted the Winnie the Pooh mural. We can call in favors pretty well here at the Jenn and Heff house.

Oh, and damn straight there's an Eeyore there... Donkeys rule, obv.


No, I couldn't convince anyone to put a table or deck of cards in the mural, that would have been too much....

how I spent my summer pt. 1

basement when we bought the house, with all sort of garishness...


basement with newly mudded/painted walls, new laminate floor, new outlets/switches, no pool table, no Brady Bunch paneling, no carpet.... - just waiting on molding to complete the floor..


Guess I can run a Heff's Contracting Service if I ever get laid off or something...

a whirlwind month

Ok, so in the last month...
-I've gotten married to Jenn,
-flown to Mississippi to be a pallbearer at Jenn's sister's funeral,
-flown to Colorado to see mountains and Jenn's birth father, who she hadn't seen in over 30 years,
-flown to California for a honeymoon to taste many wines with Jenn in Sonoma Valley and see the Pacific Ocean...

Yes, it's as whirlwind as it sounds. I also have a few other major things working in the background, and it's all making me thankful, yet concerned.

It's never easy when someone your age passes on. I didn't know Jenn's sister Emily that well at all - only spent extended time with her once - but it's always tragic to see someone go at a young age, period.

What made it especially poignant for me... because Emily had battled substance abuse problems for many years, a lot of reflection centered around the potential of her youth, and her potential for recovery and rebound in the future - but skirted around the reality of her present day struggles. I kept thinking throughout the service, before, during and after I helped carry her coffin, -  "What will people say when you leave the room?"  - in both the literal and figurative sense.

I want good things to be said about me. Accomplishments noted. Positive influence in others' lives. A strong example to live by. People can remember what I actually did, not what I could have done, not "what if?"

 And so I'm trying to be a better, warmer, bigger person and let go of a lot of the steaming, grumpy Heff while trying to actually accomplish bigger picture things. In short, I want to lead a better life.

Which is only sort of working. After a wonderful honeymoon where I felt relaxed and mellow, and I think Jenn and I really gained a deeper understanding of each other - it only took me being back home 24 hours to become the grump again. I think we both have been under a lot of emotional stress, strain and extremes - and me, I get easily irritated and annoyed when poked with a stick, so to speak.

 I can't stand unfulfilled potential, goals and tasks not being accomplished because of a lack of effort, not ability - and I'm letting it drive me completely nuts. I'm just so frustrated over so many things, even though we're in a very wonderful spot overall. Family worries me - mine, hers, ours. I worry about Jenn, and hope she's dealing with this well, and that I'm actually being helpful. Arrgh. This too shall pass.......

Anyhow, in poker news, I'm keeping track of the WSOP Main Event with some interest after my inglorious six-hour run last year... A deep Scotty Nguyen run would be the most entertaining thing to happen, although it would mean all the donks would start blabbering in bad pidgin-asian speak for months... - I think I will try to seriously grow the bankroll, or at least try to satellite into a FTOPS or WCOOP event again next month.... I swear, the more I play recently, the more I wonder if anyone really knows what they are doing - I'm playing more limit, more HORSE and O/8, and I see horrible, horrible plays every table I sit down at and wonder where the money is still coming from for these donks to keep playing - probably from me, they are the smart ones and I actually am the dumb, sucking donkey, but who knows.

The older and supposedly wiser I get, the dumber I really think I am.
But I will keep trying - both in life - and in cards - to be better.
(AIPS, Mookie, all this week, maybe?)

Heff

Fourth of July, Cortez, Colorado

a pit stop on the way to Napa/Sonoma.... yeah, point and shoots don't do fireworks well..

love and marriage

"Today was a good day" - Ice Cube......

I'm a sap. It's good to marry the one you love.

Returning home...

Back in Virginia now - rest of the trip was fine - although my last couple of cash game sessions at the Mirage and Venetian were unmitigated disasters. Jenn ran well, naturally, while I was taking a bath. When you keep running two pair into a bigger rivered two pair, or sets into straights, bad things will happen.

Picasso at the Bellagio was very choice Monday... Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie were eating there at the same time in a group, so I took a brief moment to tell them how good their series of Hold 'Em books are - always good to give people feedback. 

Delmonico at the Venetian also an excellent restaurant for those dining in Vegas - we had excellent meals at both places. Never did get a chance to play at the Bellagio (room just too packed with overflow from WSOP players) so at least that's something to save for a future trip. 

Anyhow, back to real life for me - blog updates will be infrequent from here on out, unless I actually do something interesting from a poker standpoint. and I guess I'll need to get one of these photos, since Jenn never got into the Amazon Room to shoot a picture of me...

   

Later - Heff