Tooth Fairy: We Need You Here

Marisa lost her first tooth today. Message to the Tooth Fairy: Please do not forget (like you may have done in the past) to make a stop here tonight.

New Orange Belts

It is now official. Alex and Marisa have received their orange belts in Hapkido Karate. See the test results at Master Kwon's site.

November Poker Winnings

As per the updated resolution that I made on my June 27th post, I have withdrawn my goal of $300 from my poker winnings this month. I have also taken out an extra $200. YTD=+$3,800. I have been fairly consistent for a few months now. I am going to confidently increase my monthly goal to $400 per month. My next withdrawal of $400 is due by December 31st. Please continue to keep me accountable.

God Said No

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said...Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.

Don't Drive In The Carpool Lane...

...if you cannot keep up with the car ahead of you. Probably my biggest pet peeve while driving is when people go into the carpool lane just because they have enough people in the vehicle to drive there. Then they will drive at a slower pace than the regular lanes. If you find yourself going slower than the more crowded regular freeway lanes, do not hold up the rest of the 200 or so cars that are behind you by lagging 2 miles from the car ahead of you! Thank you very much.

This Explains My Problem

I was reading over the shoulder of Alex tonight. It was one of the Hardy Boys books. He turned the page to a new chapter. So I decided to start reading the page just to get an idea how fast he reads. When I finished the page, I stopped and asked (seven-year-old) Alex where he was on the page. He looked up at me and then pointed to about halfway down ...THE NEXT PAGE!

This probably explains why I really do not like to read as much as he does. If I was able to read 50% faster, I'm sure I'd be reading a lot more. Thank you so much Alex, for showing up your Dad once again.

Shorthanded Ring Games

I have recently 'discovered' the shorthanded tables. These are poker tables that have a maximum of 5 or 6 players versus full ring games that have a max of 9 or 10 players.

I am doing considerably better at these hold 'em tables. Looking at my stats, I find that after about 65 table-hours played (a relatively small sample), I am winning more than twice as much per hour over the full/longhanded tables. Here are some of my theories as to why there is such a big discrepancy:

--You are able to see more flops, as you do not have to wait around for premium starting hands. This is advantageous for the better player.
--Some players like to raise pre-flop with almost anything. This will thin the field and your chances of winning heads-up (or so) are higher.
--When you do catch a good hand post-flop, players are less likely to give you credit for that hand and they will call you down.
--The quality of the players seems to be a lot weaker.
--Players tend to bluff a lot more at these tables. You can use this to your advantage by playing a little bit more aggressively.
--You are able to 'steal' the pot more often with a bet from late position when you are first to bet into the pot post-flop.

I'll probably be playing these shorthanded tables a majority of the time from now on.

Imponderables

-Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
-Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
-Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
-Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
-Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
-Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
-Why did Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
-Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
-Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
-Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
-Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
-Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
-In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
-How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

Operation Rescue

I came across a nicely organized pro-life website/blog. It is called Operation Rescue. Seems to be a great site for pro-life news and resources.

Orange Belt Test

Alex and Marisa took their orange belt promotion test today. They did a great job. Official results will be posted shortly.

Veteran's Day

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease...
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

--Unknown Author

Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops!

Chaplain Lewis' Last Post

Captain Brad Lewis' final entry on his military blog begins:

"I recently saw a poster from WWII of a paratrooper jumping into combat and slumping over as he hit the ground. The caption on the poster said, “Someone Talked”. The implication is that what someone said cost that soldier his life.

We are a nation at war. Our enemy is both tenacious and intelligent. He will do whatever he can to defeat us and will exploit every possible bit of information to inflict damage on the US and our allies. Even the most seemingly innocuous comments can be used by the enemy to harm us or our interests. Operational Security continues to be an issue for our Armed Forces. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I must back away from the blogging community for an indefinite period, perhaps permanently. It would be easy to point a finger and blame someone or something but I won’t do that. It would also be easy to kick and scream about my rights or my desires, but that would be inappropriate. I love my soldiers and want to do what is best for them; even if it means not doing something that I love doing, like writing."

This is yet another sacrifice that Chaplain Lewis must make for us. Thank you very much for your service to the United States of America.

Hopefully his archives will remain available.

Please take look at his excellently written blog: Training For Eternity

Time To Move

Seriously. What are we doing in this crazy state? I now know the feelings of the 'left' when President Bush won his second term. Florida sounds really nice right now even with all of their hurricanes. Here are the horrific results: California Special Election 2005

P.E. For Homeschoolers

We started the kids in a class at the 'Y' that is exclusively for homeschoolers. This session they are learning about all of the fundamentals of basketball. The hour long class is two times a week. It wasn't until the third class that they actually touched a ball. So far they learned about warming up, stretching, defense, terminology, and sportsmanship. It's a great class. They really get a good workout.

We are getting a lot of value out of our new YMCA membership.

A Good Looking Graph

Here is the graph of my poker winnings since I started keeping detailed records on April 1st of this year. It includes all of the bonuses that I received from the various sites where I play. I would estimate that bonuses account for between 25%-33% of the total winnings. Not too bad for playing mostly .50/$1 limit texas hold 'em.

Home School Family Day

Yesterday, Lisa took the day off and we spent the day at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Once a year they will close the park to the general public and will have a 'Home School Family Day'. This was the third year in a row that we have done this. It was once again a great experience, especially now that the kids are getting a little taller and older, so that they can ride on more of the attractions.

This is a great day to experience Six Flags. There are hardly any lines. Sometimes you are able to ride a couple of times before having to get off. We do not have to worry about any gang presence; I haven't heard about any homeschooling gangs roaming the streets causing havoc with their slide rules and spelling bee study books. Also, we do not have to worry about seeing the typical clothes that teens wear that are a little bit too revealing. Modesty seems to be something that these kids have been taught and learned well.

We all are looking forward for next year!

Interesting Stat

According to my web counter statistics, the two most popular individual posts that people enter this blog are: Yakudoshi and FunBrain. About 25% of people who come to my blog enter through one of these two posts. These posts were nothing special. I wish I understood better how all of those search engines work.

Touche

from (Life Site News): On the October 31 edition of the CNN show, "Larry King Live," CBS reporter Mike Wallace commented that the mother of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said her son is "definitely against abortion." To which Wallace said: "He's a nice Catholic boy and he doesn't believe in abortions."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded to Wallace's remarks saying, "We at the Catholic League like nice Catholic boys who don't believe in abortion. For that matter, we even like not-so-nice non-Catholic girls who don't want to kill the kids. What we don't like are condescending octogenarians who don't know when to get out of the ring. Or when to shut up."

Proposition 73

To registered voters of California, don't forget to vote YES on Proposition 73 this coming Tuesday, November 8th. To me, it is a common sense issue. I've linked to the websites of both sides of the issue. I honestly do not understand the arguments on 'NO'. It seems that they feel that the rights of the teen are more important than the responsibility of her parents.

YES: Protect Our Daughters
NO: Campaign For Teen Safety

Judge Alito

By nominating Samuel Alito, President Bush is trying to take the Supreme Court back to a time when the Court did what is was supposed to do: Judge cases based upon the precedence of OUR Constitution and not by the precedence of court cases around the world.

See JudgeAlito.Com to see how you can support this nomination.

The Greatest Decade

The 1980's!