Code Monkey

I just got home from Book People, which is truly the best bookstore in Austin (and perhaps I could say in all of Texas, but can’t since I haven’t visited each bookstore in Texas). It’s huge, about 40,000 square feet and it has everything you could possibly want in a bookstore from the large array of books --> beautiful jewelry --> unique gifts --> some awesome toys. There’s a nice coffee house to relax and enjoy your new favorite book. Don’t forget there’s some little nooks and crannies to hide out in and do some good reading.

Another bonus – it’s right off of 6th and Lamar which is right across the street from Austin’s yummiest Ice Cream establishment, Amy’s Ice Cream. You all know I love me some ice cream. Heavenly.

The reason I went to Book People tonight is because John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton made a stop in Austin (the final stop) during their tour. How lucky are we ladies and gents! John Hodgman is hilarious and you can see him on the Daily Show. He’s a great writer from New York. He did a book signing for his new book, The Areas of My Expertise, and was so friendly in person. He just didn’t do the “sign-n-go” thing. He actually would shake your hand, give you a hug, take a photo – pretty much anything you wanted.

He was very sweet and asked me my first and middle name. He signed it like this:

To Jennefer Leee (he said he had to put three Es in my middle name although there only two) – maybe to keep it consistent with the 3 Es that are in my first name? He asked if I spelled it like that my whole life. I said, “Yes, it’s that way on my birth certificate.” He just gave a nice smile and nodded. Then he scratched out his name in the book and rewrote his name in the book like this:

John Hodgman

Maybe he liked the color of the marker or really liked writing his name.

Then he drew the H in Sunrays sign like this:



Then at the very bottom he wrote this:


The main main main reason I went there was because Jonathan Coulton was going to be there too! He’s a great songwriter and writes the funniest lyrics. He’s 10x funnier in person. I had him sign his CD and when he asked my name, I said, “Jennefer” and he replied, “Did you get my email I sent to you?” He remembered me! We’ll it was only a few days ago – but still pretty cool he remembered.

He signed it like this:

Jennefer: All E’s! Awesome! Then scribble scrabble his signature.

Best part of the evening. I asked him how much was his CD and he said, “Ten Dollars.” I said, “Do you take credit cards because I don’t have cash on me.” He smiled and then said, “I can take a check and there’s no tax.” *winks* “The government’s not getting of this!” Too funny.

Again, everyone check him out and get his music!

Nite all…

Jack n’ Jill Tournament

Next weekend will be the Jack n’ Jill Doubles Qualifier for the Vegas tournament in April. If you are not familiar with the term Jack n’ Jill in a pool tournament, it a really cool event where you play scotch doubles in your matches (alternating shots) and the team must consist of one male and one female. The tournament caps the combine skill level of both players at 10 to keep the playing field even.

We are competing next Saturday, November 4th at Slick Willies Central. I need to go practice at that location before next weekend to get familiar with their tables. Our team played there last year and avidly recall their pockets being tight and the tables being kinda fast.

Travis and I are going to play as a team this qualifier. If you folks don’t know Travis, he’s a fantastic shot. Last week he played our opponent's toughest play who is ranked the highest skill level (7) and beat him 4 games with only 7 innings. We were wow’d! He’s a 6 and I’m a 4, so we can play together since we are not over the cap.

Also, Christy (our secret weapon) on the team moved up to a 5! She’s a spectacular shot! She is definitely tough to beat on the table. Moby, a buddy of ours, calls her a double edge sword when she’s playing. *smiles*

Congrats Christy and making all of of us look great. Double WOW!

I’m going to segway into the next part of the story. This weekend, there’s a Jack N’ Jill poker tournament in Halifax. Here’s the format:

JACK 'N' JILL TOURNAMENT

Saturday, October 28, 2006 the Jack and Jill No Limit Texas Hold Em Tournament will take place. This tournament starts at 10 am with registration beginning at 8:30 am. Entry fee is $100 + $10 administrative fee. Up to 80 teams will compete for a prize pool valued at up to $8,000 featuring a first place prize of up to $2,800!

Each team must be comprised of a male and female, who will alternate playing. The female team member will play the odd number blind levels and the male team mate will play the even number blind levels. Registration is on a "First Come First Serve" basis at the promotions booth or through teleservices at 1-888-642-6376. Once 80 seats have been filled a wait list will be generated.

Geez, why can’t I be in Canada? Actually, this would be perfect idea to bring up to our league operators, Betty and Grady. Not sure if they would approve it since gambling is not legal in Austin. *ahem* Wait. The perfect event...A combined billiard and poker Jack n' Jill tournament. What could possibly be better than that?

Double w00t! JC is comin' to town!

Jonathan Coulton is such a great song writer and musician that is different from the normal musician. He's hilarious! He is touring with John Hodgman on his paperback tour and hitting Austin this Monday, October 30th at Book People. I'm not sure if he will be playing any songs, but it would be an honor just to meet the guy. I think it's set for 7:00pm, and I don't get off of work until 8:00pm. That just means I gotta zoom zoom zoom over to downtown. I'll call ahead and see if they are still there.

I love two of his songs:

1. A Gambler's Prayer
2. A Laptop Like You

AMV

I was perusing around and found this really powerful AMV with the coolest gal around, Battle Angel Alita. AMV is an anime music video that is created from a variety of scenes from an anime movie(s) or series set to a song. This one was compiled from 3 different animes:

Battle Angel Alita, Escaflowne & X/1999

Completely surprise to find this video with this song - it's perfect. I must give kudos to Luis J. Hernandez of LJ Productions -- I'm impressed that he chose this song. It's beautiful and sync'd perfectly with the Battle Angel OVAs.

It's a powerful love song about leaving this world. Not being afraid, letting the person you love know you are going to be ok (as much as it will hurt them to have to let you go). Also knowing that the person you are leaving will meet you again in a better world. It's about always being with someone in spirit. I love every word of it.

Artist: Evanescence
Song Title: My Last Breath

Check the video out: Angel's Last Breath

That it? or Dat it?

I will never eat at the Taco Cabana on Burnet Road again. I was craving chicken fajita tacos, so decided to go out and pick up a couple. I pull up to the speaker and I hear, "You ready?" I say, "Can I please have two chicken fajita tacos with cheese and..." Before I could continue, I hear, "That it?"

I then say, "I would also like a medium diet coke and..." Then I hear the notorious, "That it?" Maybe she said, "dat it?"

Ok, no that is not it. If I was finished I would say, "Thank you and that will be all tonight." I then I wonder if she is going to say anything else besides, "That it?"

So here's my new mission at that moment. I am going to get her to say something else. I figured she can't keep saying that. So I continue to order a small side of queso. Before I could finish, she said, "That it?".

Alright, I have decided that she thinks I am taking up too much of her time. Not sure why - there are no cars ahead of my or behind me...so why the rush to cut me off. Fast food is pretty low in cost, so the obvious thing for restaurants to increase revenue is to upsell. Add a dessert, upsell a large drink, add a side, etc.

But no, I just get the ol' "That it?"

For a brief moment, the devil part of Jennefer came out and wanted to just keep ordering items just to hear the infamous "That it?" Yea, see how many times I could get her to say that. But no, the angel part said, "Don't do that Jen!"

I realize that I don't want to give my money to a company that thinks I'm a burden for them doing their job. I'd rather go somewhere that wants the business and is in the business to do their job. I then say, "Please cancel my order." She then says, "OK!"

I thought about asking for a manager, but I didn't want this to turn into a big ordeal. I was hungry and wanted to find something to eat. Jack in the Box is right next door to Taco Cabana, so I drive a few hundred feet to their drive through.

As I pull up, I hear, "Thank you for choosing Jack in the Box, this is Gerardo, may I please take your order?" Wow, Wow, Wow -- this was music to my ears. I look at the menu and I see a new burger called the Sirloin Burger. I decide to try it because it looks quite tasty from the picture. I order one and Gerardo says, "Would you like the individual burger or the combo?". Just for him asking, I say, "The combo please with a diet coke." He replies, "Great, Is there anything else for tonight?" I reply, "No thank you, that will be all." He proceeds to tell me the total and I drive up. As I pull up to the window, he smiles and tells me the total again. He said, "We are making your fries now, so it will be just a minute." Another great example of customer service. My bad experience of going through a drive through turned into a great experience. I'll definitely go back to that unit.

BTW: The New Sirloin Burger is yummy - gotta try it. It's great!

BTW II: In the future with technology and all, I think it would be grand to be able to pull up to a touch screen interface and just enter the items you want. Maybe even have a login in screen with your password where you could order any of your previous orders. For myself, I usually order the same combo each time I go to a fast food restaurant. It would be cool if I could just get the 'usual'. There would be the optional 'HELP' button if the customer needed assistance. Pull around to the corner and your food is given to you. Bam, done.

BSG - You gotta watch it.

First group pictures are from Episode 6, Season 3: Torn

Second group pictures are from Episode 5, Season 3: Collaborators

If you are looking for an unbelievable series, Battlestar Galactica is a must. It's the best sci-fi TV ever. Not because it's merely great science fiction, it's great TV.

It's in it's 3rd season, but you can always catch up with the past season by purchasing the 2 past season's sets. You can also download the shows from iTunes if you don't have cable and don't have the time to go out and buy the DVD sets. It airs on the Sci-Fi channel at 9:00pm.

Be good. Spread the word.

Little and Big

Last Friday I went to a long overdue dinner with one of my dearest girlfriends. She was the first person I met in Austin and we’ve been friends ever since. Her name is Trinidad, and we all call her Trini for short. She’s cute as can be, extremely hard working and has the strongest endurance of any female I know.

She has a gorgeous and talented daughter with the coolest name, Jennefer. Trini named Jennefer after me (which was an honor itself) and we’ve always referred to me as ‘Big Jennefer’ and her, ‘Little Jennefer’.

As we were eating our dinners, Trini’s cell phone rang and it was little Jennefer. Little Jennefer asked her mom what she was doing and her mom replied, “I’m eating dinner with Big Jennefer at Trudy’s.” Little Jen on the other end of the phone said, “Oh Mom, can I come too since Big Jennefer’s there?!”

I wonder when she'll quit calling me Big Jennefer or if that has some other implication that I need to lose a few pounds. Anyway...let's continue.

Trini said, “Jennefer, you can’t leave your friend’s birthday party. You can go with us another time.” Trini said Jen was just silent.

Little Jen has so much spirit every time we get to see each other. I don’t spend nearly the time I should with little Jen, so she really gets excited when the opportunity is there. It’s difficult for us to go out on a regular basis since her mom works all the time and my schedule is usually whacked – those that know me know what I mean.

I wanted to write a little bit about little Jen, so you can just realize how wonderful she is and the person she has grown up to be (now 13 years old).

The top ten best experiences I’ve had with little Jennefer:

1. The day she was born – beautiful, healthy girl with a head full of dark hair. Precious.
2. The first time she said, “You are Big Jenfer and I am little Jenfer.”
3. Watching Jennefer play soccer for the first time. O my – that girl’s got talent. She can control that soccer ball like there’s an invisible string attached to it!
4. Jennefer’s black and white photo shoot at the Botanical Gardens. She’s a true gem to take photos of – a natural.
5. The day her mom ask me to be Jennefer’s Godmother.
6. The first time she invited me to her church.
7. Her helping me at Town Lake Animal Center. I was a volunteer on the photo team and I needed help one Saturday with the photos. She was a great photo partner – thanks Jen!
8. The day she starting wearing “cute” girly clothes – she’s always wore tomboy clothes (heh, I was the same way).
9. The day she helped me pick out my first Christmas Tree in Austin and helped decorate it.
10. The day she asked me to help plan her Quinceanera (Sweet 15). I’m looking forward to being a part of this.

It’s been amazing to see her grow up over the years and now she’s a teenager! I’m wondering if she’ll go through the rebellious teenager years – I don’t think she will. I think she’ll excel more and more everyday. It’s funny – every time I see her, she’s always got a new story that fascinates me. I love to listen to her and ask her opinion on her decisions. If I had a daughter, I’d definitely want a clone of her.

I’m proud of little Jen. *Big hug*

Note: I’m always making quirky things – the above image is an animated version of little Jennefer. It's a close resemblance of what she looks like! See, told ya she's a doll.

froot 'kók`teyl

Dear Mr. Willliam Cruess:

This has absolutely nothing to do with Pool, Poker or Anime, but just as important in my mind. Growing up, there were a few things that were just the greatest things to eat in my world. I'll list them in order of priority:

1. Grilled Cheese
2. Lucky Charms
3. Fruit Cocktail
4. Jello with Fruit Cocktail
5. Hamburger Helper
6. Manwich
7. Macaroni and Cheese
8. Ice Cream
9. Pop Ice
10. Red Grapes (seedless)

In the present, I would still be completely content with living off of the above items. Heh, In fact, that's still pretty much what I consume. Good times.

Here comes the story. Friday I was longing for fruit cocktail, a beautiful mixture of peaches, pears, pineapples, grapes, pears and cherries (although there are never enough cherries) - more than I ever have. I hadn't been feeling well the past few days, so my appetite was pretty non existant, but it started coming back that night. I didn't want anything but fruit cocktail - the only thing that will satisfy me. I went to HEB on my quest to get a few cans. As I'm looking for the cans, I notice the 106oz can that is 6lbs. O my! I think I'm in heaven -- I'm not at Sam's or Costco, but HEB and they have this gargantuan can!! I quickly grab it and travel my way to the checkout line with my one can of Fruit Cocktail. It's 6 lbs (which felt like 15 lbs because I have no energy), but so worth it in my mind.

I drive home with my head pounding and about to fall asleep at the wheel. I put the can on the counter, pull out the faithful ol' can opener and guess what? It won't open the can!! It's one of those cheap hand can openers and it just bends. Ok, here's the issue...I haven't eaten much in the past two days and my heart was set on this. Ok, no problem - look for solution #2. I grab a knife and hammer and try and repeatedly pound holes in the can. Um, this is not happening either - not working. Now I have a few punctures on the lid, and 10 minutes later come to grips that it's not working. A drill might work, but I have no drill. I could drive up to the local Walmart to buy a heavy duty can opener, but by this time I'm too exhausted to drive and in pajamas. No energy to get dressed and drive up there - sad, eh? But true.

How did people open cans before the can openers were invented (can openers were invented about 50 years after canned items). Just like I attempted to do...with a hammer and a chisel (but i subsituted a knife). No drill...no chisel. Not prepared.

So what's for dinner? I've got ice cream (with chocolate syrup and whipped cream) for dinner and for dessert, Lucky Charms. That's dinner - you can't go wrong with that.

BTW: Are you wondering who Mr. Cruess is? Yep, Founder of Fruit Cocktail. Obviously he was a good man. *smiles*

Gothic I am

I've always been told I'm kinda gothic - black clothes, black hair, black everything. I'm guessing playing pool in the dark is not out of the question. Just gotta get me these glow in the dark balls. It's a kit that you can use to transform your current table into some major fun. It comes with:

A complete Aramith glow-in-the-dark phenolic ball set, reflective cushion tube with metallic springs, glowing cue rings, glowing break spots, and glow-in-the-dark rail sights. Also need to get blacklight to get the full effect. Rack em'!

dis-uh-peer (verb)

Sometimes I wish I was a magician. Now that would be power.

It's great to just disappear, grab a suitcase, switch the answering machine on and just go somewhere else. - Dido Armstrong

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else. - Buddha

By 2009, computers will disappear. Displays will be written directly onto our retinas by devices in our eyeglasses and contact lenses. - Ray Kurzweil

Oh man. If I had magic powers... I would hope that I would use them for good. I think I would. But I would do something pretty trivial like making traffic disappear. - Nick Stahl


Sometimes I just disappear to a white room in Spain or Italy or France. I don't need any conveniences or anything fancy, I need quiet and no clutter. - Jeanette Winterson

My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here. - Jim Henson

Summer 2006 Division Champs

It's Not a Tumor did it! We had an amazing season with 10 teams in this division (Slick Willies North on Burnet and 183). 90% of the season, the team held first or second place and everyone placed exceptionally well throughout the summer season. We made it to play offs and were scheduled to play the "Wild Card" -- and it was the infamous team, 21 oz Cues. *giggles*

The captain of the team, who is also one of the sweetest guys around, was doing some trash talkin' prior the the day of playoffs informing me that HE was DUSTING his bookshelf to make room for the trophy he was going to bring home after giving our team the ol' SMACK DOWN.
Well, we had to prove him wrong and we spanked them 3-0! w00t!

The following week was the final playoff match and it was pretty intense. Every game went to double hill and we ended up pulling off the win with a 3-2! Double w00t!

This is us...minus Ronnie (think he had a date and had to leave before the night was over). I need to super impose him on the picture somehow after I can get a photo of him.

Thanks guys for a great season and looking forward to this new season. *big hug*

BA Tattoo?

If I wasn't such a wimp, this would be a pretty sweet Battle Angel Alita tattoo. It would match my candle holder that a good friend made for me. It's the same image of Alita on a clear glass square. It's really gorgeous and a one of a kind candle holder since it was hand made.

Hey, now that I think about it -- Maybe Cracker Jacks or Lucky Charms will produce one of those slap on sticker tattoos that I used to dip in water and press on the back of my hand.

I'm not a huge fan of Cracker Jacks - just never was fond of caramel coated peanuts and popcorn. But the prizes were always great. *Digging to the bottom of the box just to get the prize*. I don't think I ever actually finished a box of Cracker Jacks...bleh.

Absolutely Marvelous It's Not a Tumor!

Wow, 2 inches makes a big difference. Taking home the 12 inch trophy versus the 14 inch trophy...it's all bout' the inches.

This was one of the most solid teams and play I've seen in a long time. You guys (you know who you are), are ABSOLUTely amazing and hope we can all play many more seasons together.

There's less than 3 weeks before Tri-Cups, which is the next qualifier to make it to regionals in Austin, TX. If we win Tri-Cups, drinks will be on me....Count on that! *Big hug*

September 12 - Element of Surprise

One of the greatest inventions of all time - it's a beautiful thing to play your favorite songs over and over again.

Apple confirmed that it will hold a special event on Tuesday, September 12th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, California. An invitation sent to select media, including iLounge, features Hollywood premiere-style spotlights and reads simply, “It’s Showtime.” The event will kick off at 10:00 a.m. PT. Hmmmmmmmm......

Analysts have speculated that Apple will use a September event to launch numerous product and service offerings, ranging from new iPod nano and video models to a 23-inch iMac, new iPod-inspired phone and a movie download service. Such speculation rarely proves entirely accurate, however, as few people know Apple’s plans for certain until the event actually takes place. Apple is quiet about their new releases, but I can guarantee that they will be great features -- they always are.

Billiard Lessions - Worth the Dinero?

I've been playing for a few years and have come to a plateau on my level of play. There's so much more to learn and I need to invest more time and also take lessons from a pro.

I've been thinking about taking pool lessons for some time now. I've got an awesome cue - a friend gave me his pearl blue lucasi and I got the PredatorZ shaft up in Vegas last year. I've been fortunate to have played with some great players that have taken time out of their schedule to teach me some important skills, drills and basic foundation. You guys know who you are...(JP,WH,JM and K). You all are great players and one day, I'll be right up there with ya!

I've signed up with an instructor, Belinda Calhoun, and start my lessons on Thursday, September 7th. She's amazing - ranked 25th in the nation. Pretty impressive. I'm so excited and can't wait to begin the first lesson.

I'll keep you guys updated on how the lesson went and future lessons. I've schedule 4 one hour sessions for this month.

*Excited*

G'nite all and have a wonderful Labor Day.

It's all bout' the Benjamins

Let's talk a bit about making money in pool.

There are two types of players - the amateur (usually new to gambling on the felt) and the pro (who's been a gambler his whole career on the table).

This is how it usually happens:

The amateur wants to simply take down the other player on the table. The pro's goal is to win the opponent's money.

Key: It's not a matter of winning the most immediately; it's a matter of how much you win long term.

The amateur wants to have all eyes on him/her (the focus of everyone). The pro wants to remain in the dark, doesn't need the light.

Key: Once you're known for your game, you will be watched. When you're watched, people will know how strong you are.

The amateur likes to talk about his wins (never his losses). The pro wants to be liked by his/her peers.

Key: People will more likely accept losing their money and less likely to become angry if they like you - if you are genuine.

The amateur always goes for the win. The pro always knows when to lose.

Key: Dropping an occasional game or an entire session can set up the opportunity for a big win down the road.

The amateur plays his best game with every shot. The pro shows only enough "speed" to win by a small margin.

You gotta keep them in the game. There's nothing like "almost winning" to keep a person coming back.

When you ask an amateur what he does for a living, he'll tell you that he earns his money in the pool hall. When you ask a pro, he'll claim that he/she an insurance salesman.

Key: Heh, nobody wants to talk about insurance. *smiles*

I'm neither amateur or pro, but have a deep passion for the game. Think, err, know I always will...

Show me the Monkey!

Show me the Monkey!

This year, PokerShare is going to stake a Chimp, Mikey, in the 2006 WSOP Main Event which is 10K. Mikey has been in training for the past 4 months for the event.

There is going to be a press conference at 2:00pm on Thursday, July 27, 2006 at the Palms Hotel in Vegas. The trainers and Mikey will be avaialbe for comments and questions regarding Mikey's poker training for the main event and chimpanzees cognitive abilities.
I am hoping he'll be at the same table as Mike (the mouth) Mattusow and Mikey will knock him out of the tourney. O my...love to see that.

If he places in the money, that's definitely not peanuts!

Some questions you may have:

HAIRY SITUATION FINDING A POKER-PLAYING MONKEY?

There are very few primates that have the cognitive ability of Mikey. “After a gruelling search across North America,” says Lucan Toh, CEO of PokerShare.com, “we have spent our efforts on one lucky chimp.” Mikey has been professionally trained to recognize the colors and shapes of suits and numbers. His favorite move is going “all in” but don’t tell his competition. His website, http://www.monkeyshare.net/ will show video footage of this chimp practicing his “all in” moves with his trainers.

BANANAS OR CHIPS?

With spectators going bananas for this animated chimp, Mikey will be playing for chips! He wants cold hard cash for his retirement, which has become a more serious problem for show business animals. After chimps perform for several years, they must retire, and like humans, live off of their earnings for the rest of their lives. Mikey’s trainers are available to comment on Mikey’s retirement plan and where he hopes to retire, should he win the 2006 WSOP.

MIKEY CHALLENGES MEDIA TO HEAD’S UP MATCH!

After his press conference at the Palms, Mikey will also challenge a journalist to a live poker match. Journalists and producers will receive a banana split and share in cold Bannarama Vodka Blended’s at the press conference.

CHIMP OR CHUMP?

Mikey the chimp will be sending all of his losing opponents BACK to next year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP), compliments of Pokershare.com. That’s right, Pokershare.com will sponsor his losing victims to get right back up after defeat, and play again for free in the 2007 World Series of Poker!

I wanna be that chump to get knocked out by that chimp! *Smiles*

Our group photo from Play Offs @ Slick Willies

We must thank Moby's friend for taking the pictures (all of us forgot to bring a camera)! This wrapped up our Spring 2006 Session - now we gotta prepare for the Tri-cups. *So excited*

We did it!

O my O my...I don't even know if I can express the right words. But let's pick up where I left off last week...

Our team plays at Slick Willies in Austin, Texas. Tonight was the final playoff match, 21 Ounce Cues (that's us) against The Usual Suspects. I'm going to take a few steps back to and give you a quick snippet of our history playing against that team.

The last two times we played them during our league session, they beat us *cough cough*, 5 - 0. For each win a player gets against their opponent, it's a point. They spanked us 5 - 0 during the last two matches. We are not pround of that, but it's fact. Nopenopenope, cannot erase it. So, yeah, we were the underdogs going into this match tonight.

To win the playoff match, your team needs to win 3/5 games. First team to win 3, and it's over.

Here's how tonight unfolded:

1. Moby is up first and wins 2 - 1! He closes his match (and win) out by making a gorgeous 8 ball shot with ease. Moby is one of our secret weapons and it was such a pleasure to have him on our team this session. I'm sure glad he was on our team and I never had to play him. Wooo, thank goodness! Awesome shooting Moby!

2. Diya is up second and she shot beautifully. Here's where the pool gods come in (heh - it's the blog name, what can I do about that). I think they felt bad for the other team losing their first match. The pool gods would actually make the object balls rattle in the pockets or move the cue ball to a horrible place where she didn't have a good shot to run out the table! Evil pool gods, so Diya had to be the bigger person and say, "Hey Pool Gods, you are right...I'll let the other team win one game. But that is it!" Diya is an AMAZING shot and one of the prettiest pool players aka "Pool Shark" you'll ever meet. Also I'm going to let a secret out. If you ever want to really impress her, just wear a maroon shirt. Trust me on this.

3. Tyler is up third. He's on fired -- shot a solid game and shot with confidence. He won 3 - 0 against his opponent. (BTW: His opponent, Pablo, is one of the most solid ranked "4s" I know and he's got the best sportsmanship). Tyler, thanks for bringing us a win on such a key match. That win, really helped us to have an advantage over the other team. Superness job! (Is that even a word?)

4. Before I introduce our 4th player up, I want to let the whole world know that our team has played unbelievable this sesson as a team. That's the key part, the TEAM. I couldn't have played with a better group of guys and gals. Okok, sorry to go off on another tangent. Back to the PHILSTER. Phil is up for our forth match. The reason this is so important, is if Phil takes down this match - we win playoffs and get a seat in the Tri-Cups!! Phil is matched up with a very solid 4 on the other team who shoots like a 5! Phil made all the right decisions, all of the perfect shots, perfect leaves, simply amazing. He practiced on Sunday for over 6 hours and it definitely showed in tonight's match. Phil was calm, confident, solid - dead stroke and couldn't of played a better match! He won 2 - 0 and shot lights out! Phil, I can't tell you enough how much you impressed everyone. You shined tonight and thank you for bringing in the win!

Since we only had to play 4 total matches, we never had to play our 5th match which would of been the rubber match to break the tie. Rubber matches are the most stressful, because you have all that weight to pull in the win for the team to advance. We never had to encounter that tonight thanks to the team. Ryan, Nick, Me and Christy never had to play - but I know if any of us did, we'd all be a solid contributer.

Thanks for a great season and wonderful finish. We'll be at Tri-Cups in early June. Next milestone: Win Tri-cups and head to regionals! Let's do it guys. *big hug*

Oh, and you should see the trophies. They are gorgeous!

Trophies!

Ok, This was a pretty exciting evening for 21 oz Cues. We have always done well each season to make it to the first round of play offs, but never made it to the 2nd round. The pool gods always interfered somehow *grins*. Well, tonight, 5.11.06, the team pulled of a grand victory against a fantastic team. Everyone played lights out and it showed by the teamwork and team decisions throughout the evening. We couldn't of done this without our awesome captain, Ryan King, leading the way. He started the evening out by pulling in a superb win over his opponent [2 - 0]. Yep, no mercy for the opponent - he just dived in for the win. Bam Bam. Ryan rocks. The next beautiful victory was Christy Chun winning against a very tough opponent [2 - 1] - she shot amazing, played critical safeties when needed and shot like a machine during her match. Great job Christy! To close the victory, Moby got up to the felt. He is definitely one of our secret weapons and shot lights out [2 - 0]! Wowser - I'm still so excited from the evening!

What does all of this mean? Well, we play next week against the other winning team in our division. Both teams get trophies for the division (and us girls get trophies with the cute little females shooting some stick). The only difference between 1st and 2nd next week?

1st place: Qualifies for a seat in the Tri-cup which is a qualifier for the Austin Regionals + the BIGGER TROPHIES

2nd place: Still an awesome accomplishment and gets the smaller trophies (but not much smaller - say, 2 inches or so).

Great job guys on tonights play - we are going to have a great game next week!

Oh yeah, you are prolly wondering what the anime characters are above. Heh, that's us - the 21oz Cues!

Check out the shark

Hmm, so ya think you can shoot a good stick? Check this video out: Landon Shuffett

How impressive is that this little kid hitting trick shots (which most people could never do) was only ahem, 7 - yes 7 years old! He's much much much older now, about 11 *smiles*. He's the 17th ranked junior player in the world.

Landon won his 50th tournament on November 2, 2005 at his home poolroom, The Rack-n-Cue, in Campbellsville, Kentucky. This victory came at his 331st tournament. M'kay - that's 331 tourneys that he has competed in around his normal school, friends, and daily activities.

His family has a website that talks a bit about Landon. Check him out at http://www.justcueit.com/.

Yesyes, I'm in awe.

Rusty Angel & Tears Sign

I just got home and decided to rewatch Yukito Kishiro's 2 OVAs (OVA 1: Rusty Angel and OVA 2: Tears Sign). If you have never seen it, Battle Angel is a touching and at times, an emotional anime. It's a perfect blend -- it's a got the essence of sci-fi, but delivers an emotional moving story. Ah, and it's beautiful. I still can't get over the colors -- They are so rich and well balanced, yet keep that "dark sense" feel.

After watching it again, I realize that technically, this is an amazing production. The characters are full of expression, especially Gally. Trust me, there are plenty of scary, ugly lookin' characters in the OVA, but somehow Gally manages to always look cute and provide that balance.

In the OVA, the normal life in this type of future appears extremely difficult and trying. It displays the evils of humanity, the greed, the lust for violence, and the selfishness. The only thing that seems to be able to overcome these desires, although on a small scale, is pure love and dreams. That may seem sappy (and you know I'm not one for sap), but that's kind of how I see it in Gunnm.

The characters are excellent. No one seems artificial, and they all possess realistic traits and flaws that we can easily relate to. This heightens their believability and makes it easier to become attached to the characters. Gally is not your typical anime android. From her neck up, she looks human and the rest of her body is all mechanical. This is a welcome break from the traditonal prosthetic anime-babes you usually see in anime.

The only flaw with the OVA (and it was hard for me to find one) is that the series is far too short. *Ahem* TWO episodes! The manga version is very extensive, and the series could easily have been a couple dozen episodes in length. Since many questions go unanswered, most will have to turn to the manga (9 books) to learn all the secrets behind Gally.

Overall, it is driven by the characters, their raw desires, and Gally's strong emotions. Those of you looking for something unique need not pursue any longer. This is a keeper - enough said. *smiles*

"Yes!! I love being in battle. I love the moment when my body stops being a machine and becomes a part of me!! My blood boils and my mind goes all white!! It's an incredible high! There's no time to think...only action!" - Gally

Alright, the sun will rise in a few hours so I better head to bed. Sweet dreams all.

Hanes Pool Commercials

Love it! Billiards is everywhere now -- It's hard to go anywhere or even turn on the tube these days without seeing billiards on a station. There's TV time on ESPN for professional pool, the new Celebrity Pool on Bravo, and now the new Hanes Commercials with Michael Jordan and Matthew Perry playing each other. *winks*

880 in front of Alita?

The future for James Cameron and Battle Angel Alita

I've been waiting quite a while to see what he was doing with Battle Angel Alita, but now it looks like that isn't actually what he's up to these days. Instead it's Project 880/Avatar

It looks Like Project 800/Avatar has been bumped up in front of Battle Angel Alita. *Ugh* What are you thinking James? However since you are pure greatness, I will still bow to you as the messiah of Science Fiction Goodness.

It has been nine years since James Cameron made the box-office smash Titanic. Since then, he hasn’t just been sitting on piles of money or staring at his Oscars. He’s made three documentaries (including Aliens Of The Deep) and invested heavily in new 3D camera technology.

And now he’s back. But while we’d all come to the conclusion – based on a recent casting call for a “lithe, athletic teen” – that he was gearing up to make his long-rumoured adaptation of anime sci-fi classic Battle Angel Alita, he’s just revealed that it’s not necessarily first in his mind. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, he finally admitted the truth: “We’ve moved Project 880 into first position.”

So what is this mysterious Project 880? Ask Cameron, and all you get is a cryptic reply: “It’s as classified as the Manhattan Project.” Yeah, thanks, Jim. But observers and speculators are already a-twitter at the thought that this is Avatar, his long-cherished, epic sci-fi love story set against a raging interplanetary war. SFX read the script treatment which leaked onto the internet years ago, and it’s an effects-heavy piece which would only be possible with bleeding edge technology.

Luckily for Cameron, that’s exactly his style. ''We couldn't do one unless we do both,'' says Cameron. ''They use the same technology.'' He’s talking about Gollum-style realistic motion capture and the 3D cameras he’s been working on.

And we can expect both films within - we hope - the next few years. They’re currently planned for release by 20th Century Fox in 2007 and 2009, but don’t hold him to that: “'We don't want to get jammed up like on Titanic,'' Cameron says, refusing to rule out the possibility of Project 880 moving to 2008. ''The consensus has been we will serve no wine before its time.''

Affidavit attesting to records set by Mosconi, 1953 and 1954

This is an affidavit attesting to Mosconi's record straight pool run. How amazing would it be to have a copy of this?

Mosconi, Willie (William Joseph Mosconi), 1913–93, U.S. professional billiard player, b. Philadelphia. After a brief period as a child prodigy he did not take up the game again until 1931. He won his first world championship in 1941, and defended it successfully through 1955 in all years except 1943 and 1949. Beginning in the mid-1950s, Mosconi gave numerous exhibitions and helped to popularize the game. He wrote Willie Mosconi on Pocket Billiards (1954).

Even after his retirement from formal competition, Mosconi was an enthusiastic promoter of pocket billiards for the Brunswick company, giving exhibitions and appearing in televised matches. He was technical advisor for the 1961 movie, The Hustler, which starred Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.

Einstein was right...

Now this is what I'm talkin' about. If you haven't heard the news...We have some power players on the team. We are all ranked in the top 15 in the league and that's an impressive feat. I came across this old photo (in a shoebox) and his prediction came true in February of 2006.

Thanks Albert for your confidence in us...May I call you Al?

1374 Seconds

Yep, That's the time (~ 23 minutes)it took me to complete the 27 levels of Hot Seat Gunner. This is a free game where you are a girl (Girls Rock!) with a gun trying to get rid of a mech-type robot. Shoot your way through 27 levels in this mindbending combination of action and puzzle gameplay. Note: If you die on a level, you have to start from level one again -- there is not an option to save at a specific level.

Check it out and let me know if you beat 1374 seconds. If you do (and screenshot for proof is required), please save that baby! Good luck on your shots.

HotSeatGunner

Kick shots

In pool, a bank shot is when you drive an object ball into a rail, and then into a pocket, somewhere on the other side (or end) of the table.

A kick shot is when you drive the cue ball into the rail, and then into the object ball. Kick shots are something I have never been good at, but the need to do them seems to come up frequently. These are a couple of ways to calculate your shot. Heh, and I need to practice them.

The "X Method": This method is in Willie Hoppe's book. You mentally draw the X in this diagram, from the cue ball to the "image" of the target ball on the rail, and from the target ball to the "image" of the cue ball on the rail. These two lines intersect somewhere between the two balls (and toward the rail from the two balls). Your target point Y is the image of this intersection point. Unless the two balls are a long distance apart, this method works very simply. Incidentally, geometry shows that the point Y, determined in this way, is the same exact point Y, determined above using similar triangles.

The "Parallel Method": Yet another method, this one advocated by Dr. Cue, is to find the midpoint between the two balls. You can imagine drawing a line between the two balls, and finding its midpoint. Then aim along the line between this midpoint and the image of the object ball. The actual cue ball path (from the cue ball to point Y) will be parallel to this line. With a little practice, you can easily move your cue parallel to this line. This method works very well. It tends to be very inaccurate, if the balls are a long distance apart (because judging parallel lines is error prone). Incidentally, geometry shows that the cue ball path, determined in this way, goes to the same point Y, determined above using other methods.

The "Ghost Ball Method": This one works well if the angle is shallow (nearly parallel to the rail). Imagine a ghost ball off the table, about the same distance outside the rail that the target ball is inside the rail. If the angle is shallow, you may even be able to adjust your hit on the object ball in order to make it go where you want (like into a pocket), accurately. With this method, you can deal with the complications (which I cover below) in two different ways. You can deal with them in the same way that you do with the other methods. Or you can make your ghost ball farther outside the table, through point Y' (which I also describe later). Some adjustment has to be made, depending on how far the object ball is from the rail. Experiment, and let me know if you hit upon a good method. You can actually measure the position of the ghost ball, with your cue or fingers.

I don't recommend doing kick shots during your match unless you are in a bind and have no other choice. Keep these little secrets in your back pocket and pull em' out when you need to go for the win. They are tough shots --- but ah, such beauties when they roll in!

Good luck on the felt!

James Cameron on Battle Angel Alita!

James Cameron, the director of Titanic and Aliens confirmed that his next movie will be Battle Angel, a live action take on the Battle Angel Alita manga/anime. The movie will be shot in 3D, using the same technology of Cameron's IMAX 3D movie Aliens of the Deep. The main character will be completely CG (computer generated). It is set to release in 2007. Can't wait!

Basic Plot:

On a future Earth, 26th century, the story takes place 300 years after a societal collapse caused by a major war, but in that society, it's a technological dark age following a pinnacle of achievement far, far beyond where we are right now. So in a sense it's post-apocalyptic, but it's post-apocalyptic from a very high level. So now, you've got cyborg technology as just a way of life. People are augmented a lot as workers and so on, so being a cyborg is not unusual. The main character is a cyborg. She has an organic human brain, and she looks like she's about fourteen years old. She has a completely artificial body and she's lost her memory- she's found in this wreckage and she's reconstituted by this guy who is a cyber-surgeon engineer who becomes her kind of surrogate father. He rebuilds her and gives her a name Gally, which later known as Alita. Alita awakens in a world where living conditions are poor, gangs roam the area, and "survival of the fittest" applies. Alita is apparently a child with no past...even to herself. Mysterious combat abilities are within her though and after a period of some confusion, Alita registers herself as a "hunter/warrior".

It will be PG-13 -- lots of blood, but it's all blue.

Break Shot Manga

There are not too many mangas about sports, but there are exceptions - For example: Break Shot is about billiards.

It was released in 1987 and 16 in the series. The author is Takeshi Maekawa.

I've been looking for the comics, but haven't been able to find them. I did find them on Amazon.com (the Japanese Amazon). I had a hard time trying to translate the page and then I saw the magic "Display in English" link. Heh - um, it doesn't work.

Plot Summary:

A boy named Chinmi is infatuated with billiards. Problems arise when a new student body president, Olive, suddenly decided to cut the funding for his billiards club. Unhappy with that, Chinmi wants to convince Olive that the club is worthy of the funding. He decided to challenge a two-time former national billiards champion. Chinmi goes on to re-create legendary techniques and enters the National Championship Billiards Tournament.

Can I hide?

Yamaha is now selling a private sound booth

Um, Yamaha's Sound Proof Entertainment Room is the solution for isolating some badass MMORPG'ing, studying, working, or hiding from your family. It's only a 2.5 square meter area -- perfect hideaway for blasting those peeps or using as recording studio (not bothering your neighbors).

It's got two power inputs -- plenty of ventilation with the fan. You can easily add internal options with ethernet, phone, TV connections, windows, etc. The grandest part, AN INTERNAL LOCK that only you have CONTROL. I think I'll take the black one. Yes, ladies and gents - this could be yours for the mere price of 4K.

I want one...

"Dear Santa,

I promise I will behave from now on. I know I say that every year -- I mean it this time *sad eyes*"

What is the perfect cue?

The perfect cue is one that works for and with you. I have always believed that it is not the cue that makes the player, but a good cue lets the true player come to the surface.

Oh my, in my eyes, the LE11 is my vision of perfection.

Captivating Appearance. Quiet Beauty. Screaming Performance. – That’s a Predator Cue.

This limited edition [LE11] became available in September of this year (2005).
Predator has never offered so much performance, luxury, and elegance combined in one superbly balanced cue package. The Limited Edition 11, designed by Predator founder Allan McCarty and constructed by Mezz connects you with the game like few other cues can. The are only 175, each uniquely numbered, of these in the world – it’s an extraordinary cue.

Hard part is finding one of these for sale. The cost of this cue – almost 1500.00

I have the Predator 314 shaft on my Lucasi and I love it. It made a difference in my game. The Predator shaft wants to go through the cue ball, while I found the other shaft had me forcing the cue through the stroke.

The LE11 cue will definitely be an investment, guess I better start saving and searching for one of these beauties *smiles*.

She's hooked

Just found out Laura (who fell asleep initially) watched the rest of Grave of the Fireflies. She enjoyed it, but did find it sad - I agree with her. It's difficult to make it through one sitting. There's several pivotal scenes that are emotional. If you haven't seen this movie, take the time to rent it.

The movie is definitely suited for animation. If we would use real actors, it would be hard to envision this story. It's realistic, but in the sense that Van Gogh and Coltrane is real. With its warm humanity, you feel emotions pulled out of you that you never knew you had.

Fireflies is full of moments of serene beauty, scenes of peaceful vitality. Visually, this is a beautiful movie. Everything is drawn in lush, vivid watercolors; the greens and blues of the lake, the saturated reds of a devastated Kobe, even the smoke from the bombers looks poetic.

HEB Plus has a Poker Aisle!

There are poker tables, nice clay poker chips, poker pictures, poker shirts, poker cards, poker books, and poker dishware!

First things first, I’m not so keen on the “Plus”. I will prolly be calling the 1-800-HEB-PLUS line to suggest a possible name change. I wonder how many calls they get a day on their hotline number and what they do when they are not getting calls.

My suggestions:

HEB Ultimate
HEB 9th Degree (rhymes)
HEB Extra
HEB Gargantuan
HEB Mungo
HEB Planetary (love the rhyming)
HEB Colossal

For those of you that know me, you know I would never step into a grocery store at my own will. I have always supported the local restaurant community and do my part to eat out as much as possible. Some call me lazy since I never cook, I say it’s efficient.

I get an IM at 8:45pm from Laura. She asked me what I’m doing on a Saturday night, and I think for a moment and then reply, “not sure yet, but leaving work in 15 minutes.” She replies back and invites me to go to HEB Plus. I’m assuming she detected a bit of hesitation in my reply, so she tells me, “It will be just like Wally World!” Well, walking into a grocery store at 9:30pm at night sounds like an adventure for me, so why not. Yes, she sold me…I’m sold!

So Laura, Jeremy and me hop in his car and we take a road trip to HEB Plus on Hwy 79 and IH35 at 9:56pm. Jeremy is driving prolly 93 miles an hour. Obviously, he was the most excited of us three to get there. We get there in 6 minutes flat when it’s a 14 minute drive. Amazing. Here’s where it gets good. We pull up to this 19,000 square ft bldg at 10:02pm and the parking lot is FULL! What no lifers are hanging out in a grocery store at 10:00pm on a Saturday night. I just didn’t get it.

This place is grand! It has everything under one roof. Let’s wander over to each section of the store.

Produce:
The produce section is massive. They even had grapples. For those who know what grapples are, you understand my excitement right now. I haven’t even seen most of the produce and fruit before – they are from another world.

Seafood:
The gentlemen behind the seafood counter have wireless mics on, so everyone can hear them talk about the fish they have for sale. This mungo, ultimate king crab is tossed in the air - $107.00 bucks and the crab is ours. Gonna pass this time – don’t have the pot to cook that thing. Then they show everyone this colossal fish that has teeth. Alright, we loose are appetite to see a fish with teeth staring at us. Let’s move on.

Olive and Cheese section (It’s own little area):
I hate olives – yelch. But Laura and Jeremy like olives and they know everything about olives. I say they are round things that taste like rubber. They pick up a fancy little container and put in 9 garlic olives and seal. Moving on….

Meat Section:
Ok, looks like the normal meat area. While they are checking out the red meat, I wonder over to the next aisle. Whoa! Vitamins galore to the 9th degree – I pick up some healthy, natural pills that are to be chewed…hmm…prolly not very tasty. But whalaa…it’s in liquid form. Don’t really need it, but i’m getting it. Moving on….

Normal aisles:
Typical grocery items, but an excessive variety of everything. If you are a cookie lover, there are prolly 4,000 different kinds to choose from. I kid you not.

We peek around a corner after trotting up and down aisles and see a glowing area. Yep, this ultimate array of video games, movies, and dvds. It’s a mini blockbuster, but instead it’s an HEB buster.
Ooooh, anime movies right up front. I pick up three of them and Laura finds Pretty in Pink also! We go to check out (you must check out those items in the back area) and her movie is 5.99. Mine totaled 59.00 bucks. What the heck – Anime needs to go down in price! Grrrrrrrrr. They are worth it though. My thought, Laura’s gonna have to sit through an hour and ½ anime flick! Ha!

Next Area – Books:
Oodlees and oodle of books. Some at 50% off, some at 25% off - oodles of books. I find a great little treasure of a book for $1.99 + it had an extra 25% off sticker which only made this rare find $1.59. *winks*

Um, Gotta back up to the Jelly Bellys area:
Every flavor you can think of. It takes time to find the perfect mix of Jelly Bellys. So here I go, sampling all of em’. Mmmmm…*rubs tummy*. I get ½ lb and Laura and Jer get ¼ lb. I prolly at ½ lb while I was in there too. Shhhh. But if you do go there, help yourself to tasting each one – they aren’t watching you and the mark up on those jelly beans account for people like us dabbling and sampling. *giggles*

Cosmetic Area:
Typical stuff that I won’t bore you with. Ok, I’m still looking for the rides like Wally World and I see nothing. Think I have been conned here. Just as that though crossed my mind, I looked over and see a blood pressure machine. A brand new one, not one that millions of people have used – this smells new. We all take our blood pressure – how exciting is this. Ok, that was fun. We stroll over to this planetary aisle across the way from the blood pressure machine. I can’t really say what items were in aisle, but let me tell you that you will never have to walk into an adult toy store ever again. It’s all right there! Note to manager: Put up a “Must be over 18 sign”.

Ok, let’s keep walking. There’s a mini furniture section. They sell beds, bunk beds, living room sets (just one choice though), chairs, end tables…you name it. Look to your right, and there is a complete home décor section. You can find bedding, normal pillows, wall paintings, lamps, lighting fixtures, soooooft fluffy pillows….etc.

It’s now midnight. We have been walking around for two hours and haven’t even been down all the aisles. I gotta go back. BTW: They have this new HEB Points Club Card where you get points for every dollar you spend. Each quarter they will send you cash redeemers that you can use to buy groceries, gas, or whatever you desire. You get 5,000 points just for signing up! The low down, for every 1,000 points you get 1.00 back. So just for signing up, you have accrued 5 bucks. I’m going back in 3 months to redeem my 5 bucks on more Jelly Bellys.

I was pleasantly surprised with the overall experience. Thanks Laura for planning this excursion for us! Whew, we are exhausted and pop in the pizza and sit down to watch Grave of the Fireflies. (Laura’s first anime experience…*smiles*). I look over 22 minutes later, she’s out cold. She missed the movie! It’s still sitting in the DVD player for her to enjoy later.

I even bought some groceries and kept the receipt to prove it.

My Groceries:
Jelly Bellys - .60lb
HEB Cool Wave Fruit Punch
Strawberry Cheese Coffee Cake
Digiorno Spinach Mushroom High Rising Pizza
Chocolate Cake with a light Mousse Topping
Moisturizer
Bargain Book about Poker
Shimmer lip coffee color lip gloss
That liquid vitamin stuff (cool bottle)
One Emery Board
Sandies Fruit Delight Strawberry cookies

Final comment: HEB Plus doesn’t really have a poker section. They should think about having one *winks*

Billiards the next Poker?

Will Billiards be the next Poker?

Heh – prolly not. Us passionate billiard players can definitely make a case though.

When poker first started airing on television, you were not able to view the “hole” cards of the players since the mini cams were not set up on the poker tables. Watching poker, well – it was ok. Once the cameras were installed, the glitzy backgrounds, intense music, the beautiful hostess, and the great commentators were melted together – it took off! ESPN makes billiards look pretty dry when you are watching it and the commentators speak in monotone. Add that to billiards – it’s gotta take off! It would be great to add the heart monitors to see how it escalates or remains level. That would be a great feature to billiards or poker. ESPN – think about it.

There are several television shows released about billiards, as there should be *smiles*. The WPBA matches are always on ESPN2 and there is a new show called Ballbreakers on the Game Show Network (Yesyes, you need cable). The show is billed as TVs first regular series featuring the popular world of billiards. That might not sound thrilling, but the hustle aspect of the show is! Each episode will feature four players playing 9-Ball for a chance to win $20,000. Each player starts with a $5,000 bankroll, and they challenge other players to matches for a $1,000 minimum, putting their money where their mouth is. The players outside the match can even engage in side bets as to who wins or loses the match.

And for you guys out there, they’ve thrown in Adrienne Curry, winner of the first season of Americas Top Model, as the Rack Girl.

Billiards has > 40 million active players shooting the game. We only need corporate sponsorship and the right connections to make it happen.

I play with an organization called APA (American Poolplayers Association) and it has over 250,000 members. I believe pool already is poker and much more. The Riviera Hotel in Vegas is what Binion's Horseshoe is for the poker game. The vintage hotels keep bringing both games every year having an exponential rise.

The APA’s singles championships and team championships draw more than 10,000 billiard gurus from all over North America every year. Of course Amber Bock is one of the APA's sponsors – just like poker! Coincidence…hmm…

The APA championships held every year in August is the climax of the hard work teams compete for all year. You have to win your local division’s play offs to advance to the Vegas National Tournament. It’s hard work – but once you are there, you realize your team worked hard to make it that far. Each player/team takes it just as serious as the “Phils” of poker take the WSOP events. The APA Nationals is a HUGE event – Our team made it there in 2002 and it was one of the best weeks of my life. The energy, team passion, the excitement of Vegas, and the drive to be the winning team and take that tournament down, all bundled up – wow, it’s amazing.

Why I think billiards will (or should) be the next poker? Poker is a mental game just as billiards is. It’s a great combination of a game and a sport – it’s beautiful. When I sit down to a poker table, my heart races every minutes. When I step up to a billiard table – I experience that same heart racing feeling. Watching billiards may not be as exciting as watching poker – but I think we watch poker on television to watch the “bad beats”. Our heart feels bad for those players – and it would for the “bad beats” of billiards. You can be on the perfect run in billiards, and one mistake or one bad roll – you are out. It’s a ton of work to let some anomaly take you out of the game. Heart drops….my dones anyway.

Brenham - What do people do in Brenham?

Repeated Action – Jen doesn’t post for a very long time.

I’m going to start out be admitting what a slacker I am. Everyday I make some sort of small mental note that I will update my blog, and of course the days turn into weeks – which turn into months. *Dust off keyboard*

Poker front:

I’ve been spending more time in the poker arena. I play at a few regular games and got back in to the online poker play as well. I took a hiatus from online poker since my computer’s memory board got toasted a month and ½ ago during a storm that lasted approximately 1 hour. I started to smell something burning and when I removed the case on the computer…there was a steady stream of smoke flying up from the motherboard. It died…sucks. I now have a computer thanks to a good friend, Phil, who hooked me up with a great system. Thanks Phil!

The 2005/2006 WSOP Circuit started in August. I am going to head to Caesars Indiana – Oct. 19-Nov. 2, 2005. There are a couple of events I want to play – the LIPS Ladies No Limit Hold’em Event and one of the NL events that are the lower buy ins ~ 500.00 or 1,000.00. The payouts are nice if you place in the money for your investment. I might even be able to get into those events for a smaller investment through satellites. It’s still a month and a week away, so have practice time to tune up my tournament play.

I’ll admit, I probably have no chance at placing in the money – but I think my chances are the highest in Indiana compared to the Vegas or Atlantic city circuit events. I mean, “Who plays poker in Indiana?”

Come on’ poker gods….keep me safe.

My friend, Michelle, is going on vacation to see her parents in Indiana, so she'll be at the circuit event as well. I hope I don't have to play at her table though - the last tournament we play at in Austin, she took me out. We both flopped the same set - my kicker sucked. She flopped a boat (little did I know). Mental note: Never play with crap kickers...and I deserved being eliminated for playing that crap. Michelle won the tourney - she deserved my chips.

Hmm, I just thought of something. I remember getting knocked out of a tournament with another girlfriend of mine a few months ago. Her name is Kat and she did awesome and placed in the money! She deserved my chips as well.

We need more female players in Poker. Kat should be back here in Austin dominating the poker scene. Hmmm, she should also be playing in the circuit event in Indiana....Kat, "Get back to Austin!"

Billiard front:

I’ve decided that I want to move to another level in Billiards. I’ve been playing in two leagues the past couple of years and I’m at a point where I either need to focus on improving my game or give it up. I choose, focusing on my game! I’m a nervous player – let the mental part of the game interfere. I’m trying to overcome that fear, just can’t figure out how. I was speaking to a girlfriend of mine and she said, “Jennefer, you need to start playing larger tournaments.” I have played the smaller local tournaments in Austin and it’s time for me to branch out to something larger.

Ok, I’ll try it – prolly get spanked royally my first few, err, 100 times. We are going to play in the HUNTER CLASSICS AMATEUR WOMEN'S TOUR

Sept. 24-25
Legend’s Billiards and Grill
Brenham, Texas • (979) 251-7665

It’s a 30.00 investment there will be about 60 – 80 female players. Most of them are amazing shots and my goal = not to be the first person out. The most amazing part of this is that The Hunter Classics Tour is a stepping stone to the WPBA.

The tournament format is race to 7. True double elimination (ie: race to 7 in semi-final and if necessary two races to 7 in the finals. Saturday is alternating break and Sunday is winner break.

I’m looking forward to the event – Christy, Michelle and I are going to drive up Saturday morning ~ 3 hours. We are going to stay overnight to play in the 2nd chance tournament on Sunday if we get eliminated from the main event. It gives us the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Christy and Michelle are both amazing shots and I learn from watching them. Hopefully their skills will rub off on me. 3 Girls from Austin hitting the big ol’ town of Brenham. What does Brenham have in store for us? *shrugs*

Well, since the population of Brenham is , 15K - I can't imagine there being a ton of attractions. The only thing I know: Blue Bell Creamery - um, wait nevermind - only have weekday tours. Ugh.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

This has nothing to do with poker or pool, but his speech made a huge impact and made me realize that I made one of the best decisions (toughest) of my life this week. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Five Hundred and Twenty Six

526: Yep, that is the record for Willie Mosconi in 1954. He pocketed 526 balls continuously before missing a shot.

Straight Pool - this has become one of my favorite forms of pool. I went up to a local pool hall last night just to shoot some balls around. A player came up to me and asked if I wanted to shoot a game and said it would be my choice of game.

I thought about it for a second and asked if he shot straight pool? He looked at me and said, "don't we all". This was the first time in over 5 months that I had the opportunity to shoot this game. This is one of my favorite forms of pool, "straight pool", in which the player can shoot at any ball he likes. Once 14 (of the 15) ball are made, a new frame begins. To keep a run going, you have to make your shot and attempt to break the balls open with the cue ball breaking up the rack. Most of the skill in straight pool is selecting the order of balls to play, leaving a good break shot, and most importantly playing a safety shot with there is no attractive shot.

He dominated the table. It was pretty discouraging, but as Mosconi once said, "Don't waste time. Only play people that play better than you play."

So, gotta practice gotta practice gotta practice - then maybe I won't always have to be the onlooker. *filed to myself* Get the hunger back Jen!

Playing Pool with God

Let's talk about some pool. This is one of my favorite pictures...I've always said that if there isn't a pool hall in heaven, i'm not going. As you can see, there is is a table.

I was shooting the other night before a match and my cue was on auto pilot. The cue ball rolled perfectly on the green and all I had to do with my cue was point and shoot. (note: she is a female cue). This is shooting under no pressure - just fun. Now the turning point for me....

It was my turn to shoot a match, and all of a sudden I couldn't make a ball no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even vision the balls making it to the pocket. I stood up, walked away as my opponent shot and took a deep breath. I realize the mental part of the game had taken over - worst part, is I let it.

My weaknessness range from facing a difficult shot, to dealing with an opponent's good fortune, to playing a player much better than myself, to playing in front of an audience --

How each situation affects you is really up to yourself. If I let myself get discouraged when the opponent gets more than his/her fair share of rolls (due to the pool gods), nobody but myself is to blame when it adversely affects my concentration for the rest of the game or match.

Another common mental barrier experienced by myself is getting nervous when playing before an audience or playing an important match against a much stronger opponent. I know we all get nervous -- even the best in the world. What separates the winners from the losers is that the winners handle that nervousness to the extent that it is no longer a barrier in their way to success.

To wrap it up, I blew the most important game of the season at Slick Willies. Not only did I let myself down, I let down the people that are the most important to me in my billiard world, my teammates [Dave, Patrick, Clay, Michael, Scott, Ronnie & Phil - without you guys, the league wouldn't be as fun or challenging]. I made horrible decisions, didn't shoot with confidence and doubted every single shot. It is okay to feel edgy before or during an important match, as long as you still perform well under those circumstances. This I failed to do. This was our playoff match to make it to regionals. It was the rubber match and the hill game. I had no doubt that we would dominate at regionals if we got there.

I made a promise to myself to never play like that again and let them down a second time. Getting over that mental barrier...that my friends, I need to learn.

I'm really back this time....

Jen's back...

Sorry I have been so out of touch. I've been working on a couple of projects in my world and put everything else on hold. Now back to reality and I plan to post regularly from here forward. I'm notorious for falling of the earth, but know that I always come back.

It's been awhile

It's been a long time since I've posted and my apologies for being disconnected. I plan to start posting on a more regular basis starting in February of 2005.

Tilt is in the pipeline

ESPN has announced its new gambling TV show, "Tilt". Brian Koppelman of Rounders was developing a series with ESPN. It was originally pitched to be about college gambling, but the series that made it is about the World Series of Poker!

The dramatic series will air on Thursday nights beginning Jan. 13 (9 ET), with one-hour shows that will explore the drama of high-stakes gambling, as well as the action away from the table where greed and revenge fuel conflict, power plays and deal making. Link for more info.

Introducing Alita - Battlefield Angel

Who is Alita?
Alita is the girl that Ido finds in the scrapyards and brings home without knowing what he has really found. That it is the most beautiful girl ever and she will group up to be the best you can be. Alita is a dreamy and always struggling to find out who she really is. Alita has no memory from her past and doesn't really know how she had the gift of knowing the martialart Panzer Kunst or the "Armorted Arts". It is said to be the most powerful of the various fighting techniques developed for Humanoid Cyborgs.

Alita Continued....

Since she discovers her knowledge of the Panzer Kunst, she decides to be a "Hunter Warrior" just as Ido is. It is this decision that will trigger the whole new life for Alita. Alita is very kind and fair to all people she meets not judging from color of the skin or if the person is rich or poor. Alita's struggling for knowing about Tiphares "The Cloud City" and the scrapyard will soon prove not be be an easy task. Along the way she will be kind of finding hersleft and will meet many people good and evil, but they will all be part of something bigger and have some part in Alita's destiny.

Mental Game of Billiards

The mental aspect is actually MORE important than the physical. A smart, focused, intense player with limited physical skills can beat a dumb, unfocused, slack-ass with a perfect stroke every single time. Pool is not sumo - physical skills are far less important than being able to out-think your opponent. In the world of professional pool, almost everyone has a great stroke. What separates them on any given day? Their ability to think their way through racks, their efforts of concentration, their sheer will-power. Any monkey can learn to stroke a cue in a straight line. It takes a lot more commitment to bear down on every single shot, to get that focus going and perform the same action over and over again. Not only are those parts of the mental game important, so is learning how to focus, how to concentrate, and how to use that knowledge during a match. And although I've seen many a player blow up because of a mistake, pros generally have an even demeanor. This allows them not to focus on the negative, and to allow mental energy to be spent on the table, not stewing over a missed shot.

The best players, though, aren't the ones blessed with just a perfectly straight stroke. The best players aren't the ones with 200 IQs. The best players have the best combination of physical and mental talents. In other words, a great mind coupled with a great stroke will combine to create one hell of a player. Just as I said above, though, all other things being equal, like equipment, environment, and stroke, the intangible that separates players is the ability to use their minds.