prod & ponder

Fresh off yesterday’s fun, and with much need to unwind after a bad day, tonight I trekked out to Arlington to enter the poker tournament at Bailey’s Pub. There were about twice as many players (60 or so) as Tuesday’s tournament, and it followed the same format, with two tourneys running back to back (7 & 10pm).

I busted out in the top twenty or so players in the first tournament, so no final table fun there. I did, however, know the winner of the tourney: an old friend, Becca, from swing dancing. I had no idea Becca played poker, but apparently she’s a regular and qualified for the league’s last regional competition.

Things went better in the second tournament and I made it to the final table and ended up in 4th place. I’d really like to win one of these things, but making the final table in three of four tournaments is a happy thing.

All this said, I’m also acutely aware that reading poker results ranks just under “watching grass grow” in thrills and excitement, so I’ll shut up about it for a while.

Last night I decided to check out the scene at one of the National Pub Poker League’s games in DC.

They ran two back-to-back tournaments, with between thirty and forty people in each.

I got 5th and 8th place respectively, which may not sound particularly impressive, but I was the only person to make it to the final table in both tourneys (were these cash games I’d have been paid in both and been a happy camper).

With all the photos and talk of Disney, socializing, and whatnot, things were getting beyond chipper. Nothing wrong with that, but without further adieu let’s balance things off with some more PoMo (that’s academic hipster shorthand for postmodern) sensibilities…

americana

one way, the 7 eleven way

This month’s blogger meetup was a rousing success in all the important measurements of such things:
1. There were lots of people.
2. There was beer and nachos.

Rob, ever the great host, posted a list of all the bloggers in attendance and their blogs. For a cut on the social side of thing, check out dc sleeps alone. I also had a good discussion with Pat, of DC Blogs, about the future direction of internet media that I’m still mulling over and that I suspect will turn into a post soon enough.

If you happen to be around Cleveland Park you should check out Blue Coyote Laughing’s photo showing at Aroma. The DC Flickr crowd, which continues to grow, had its monthly meetup there last night. Much fun.

As you’d expect, the place was littered with photographers, and I think every square inch of the place was combed for shots. Including… the fan.

Yes, it’s time for more vacation recap. Don’t worry, not much more to go on that front. Last Tuesday was spent at Disney-MGM Studios. It was my first time at the park, so perhaps I was missing something, but as best as I can tell Disney-MGM Studios is the above ground pool of theme parks. Sure, it seems ok enough when you first see it, maybe even fun to splash around in for a short while. But it’s a brief joy, and in no time at all the most amusement you can come up with is the exciting puzzle game of “what on earth is there left to do that’s fun here?”

On the plus side, it meant that we left the park early, had fun lounging around at the hotel during the afternoon, and were up for a late night at what turned out to be one of the best finds of the trip: Jellyrolls, a dualing pianos bar at the Disney Boardwalk. It was cast night–Disney cast members got in free–and the place was packed with a great crowd of rowdy regulars.

I’m generally far too hip to go around raving about some Disney bar–I can’t begin to tell you how much that goes against the grain of being a native Floridian– but so help me, this was fantastic. This shot was from early in the night while things were still mellow and before the place got packed by all the cast members getting off work:

We may not have passed the tipping point of the deadly strain of avain influenza growing into a global pandemic, but it does seem like we’ve crossed a tipping point in awareness and media coverage about the risk. It’s not a pretty nor particularly unlikely scenario.

Good news: There’s a potential vaccine. And as a nice bit of local pride, UMD’s school of medicine is one of the centers running clinical trials on it.

Bad news: If we get an outbreak of it in the short term, producing and distributing the vaccine in the required quantities would be a stretch, and having to widely administer it without having sufficient clinical trials isn’s an appealing possibility.

Killer bird flu. Terrorist attacks on mass transit systems. Iran joining the international frey of nuclear diplomacy and coercion. Fun, fun, fun!

For fans of HBO’s Entourage: lhiob.com. And at the next iPod dj night someone really ought to spin a sliver of this. As a warning for those reading the blog at work, and as an enticement for those who aren’t, both links have adult language and audio attached to them.