Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Re-opening Soon

We will be back in business soon at the store. I called my people and they were back yesterday and today. We have been tagging product and getting the store ready to reopen. The first floor won't be pretty but at least it will be clean and safe. But once you get upstairs the store will look good. Those floors (we have 5 floors) look as if nothing happened.



But just to give you an idea of what the first floor looks like - here is what is left of my office. (BTW, customers will NOT be allowed in this part of the building.)


That's right. I lost everything - right down to the studs. And it was just last summer that the boss remodeled the place. Oh well. Life goes on. I will be claiming a desk on second floor and getting back in the game soon. We would like to be open this weekend but I'm afraid there is still too much that will need to happen before we can invite customers back into the store. Next weekend is more likely.

These are busy times in the Sunbob home but for those that can find it -

I bid you PEACE.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

MOBEYANDGOAT PUSHED

It was a stormy night here in Iowa so I decided to join the Holdem Affair crew for a night of fun. Forty-two of us sat down to contest this weekly crown. And when the final cards were dealt it was MobeyandGoat with all the chips.He pushed Unionthug out of the match in a fine heads up contest. Bugman22j finished third. Gjones and Big lar8 finished out the money table. Wkmistress7 joined us for the first time tonight and finshed on the bubble to introduce herself to the Holdem Affair crowd. With forty-two at the start, it was over two hours before we set the final table. Golfur2 was our bubble victim this week. That set up a final table that looked like this.

Mobeyandgoat = 12800
Sunbob = 9370
Unionthug = 7830
Bugman22j = 7705
Paradoxides = 7140
Gjones = 4550
Wkmistress7 = 4475
Daggit13 = 3295
Annieboom = 3265
Big lar8 = 2570

With the antes just 25 and the blinds 150/300, we really didn’t have a short stack. I guess Big lar8 was the closest to that. And yes folks, your writer was having a decent night. I actually had AK hold up a couple of times and set me up nicely going into the FT.

We danced around for the first orbit as the blinds increased to 200/400. I even succeeded in stealing a couple of blinds. Then on hand 14 – Paradoxides was UTG and raised to 1400. All folded to bugman22j in the bg blind who popped it to 4900 – Paradoxides made the call. The flop came 6d 4h 5h. Buggy pushed all 1830 inot the middle and Paradoxides was covered but called. Bugman22j turned over Kd KC nad paradoxides must have been reading the bluff because he caled with Ac Jd. No help for Paradoxides and he was gone in tenth place.

I was cruising along quite nicely here stealing some blinds and feeling good about my game. Then hand 15 came along and I looked down to see the two red aces. Time to chip up a little bit. Let’s hope I get some action. One fold and Unionthug just smooth calls. Two more folds and I raised it to 1200. I wanted to isolate thuggy but not run him off. That bet did the trick as all folded around to Unionthug who looked me up. Now how do I build this pot? The flop came Ks 5c Tc and Unionthug started the action with 3450. Well that answered my question. Unionthug was going to do it for me. That was over half his stack so I knew he would call any raise. . . but had he hit his set? I had Unionthug covered and knew he liked to play very aggressively. I decided he didn’t have a set so I made the simple raise and pulled him all-in. I was right. Unionthug turned over As Jh to show his semi-bluff with the gut shot straight draw. I had him. The Th on the turn was no help and now Unionthug was looking for one of the four queens to complete his straight. 91 times out of 100 hands, I win this and Unionthug is on the rail. But not this time. The Qd showed her fickle face on the river and I was mortally wounded. Unionthug was our new chip leader.

I laid low for awhile, waiting for a chance to steal. In the mean time we got to hand 18 – Annieboom was short with only 1490 and posting the 400 big blind. Mobeyandgoat raised to 1300 and annieboom pushed it all in. Annie had pushed with Ah 3h but Mobeyandgoat had pocket kings. Actually Annie is just a 67/33 dog in this situation, still not bad. But now ace came along to bail her out and annieboom was our ninth place finisher.

I stole the blinds on hands 22, 25 and 26 but the blinds were now 300/600 and the 75 ante was eating me up. Then I stole another pot on hand 34 and again on hand 36. I was up to 6990 going into hand 37 but I guess I was tilting a bit because I felt that I was short stacked. I pushed one to many times – this time with Ks Js from the small blind when all folded to me. Mobeyandgoat pushed all-in. I read it as a re-steal and made the call. Oops – Mobeyandgoat showed me his Ah Jh. He caught an ace on the flop and I was done for the night. Eighth place was all I could muster this week.

That put Mobeyandgoat back into the chip lead. The very next hand Big lar8 sent Daggit13 packing when he flopped trip fives to better Dagitt’s pocket eights.

We were down to six now and paying five so it was bubble time. But the bubble action was brief this week. Just three hands. Hand 41 and Unionthug raised UTG to 1200. Wkmistress7 made the call from the big blind. The flop was Ac Tc Kh. Mistress bet 600 and thuggy took her all-in with his raise. Wkmistress7 had As 6d for top pair, but Unionthug had Ah Td for two pair. Another ten on the river and Wkmistress7 was gone. This was the first Holdem Affair for Wkmistress7 and she showed us that she belonged here. A very nice lady with more than a little bit of game.

Hand 50 saw Mobeyandgoat push and big lar8 look him up. Big lar8 had made the right call. He figured Mobeyandgoat was making a play and he was correct. Mobeyandgoat turn over 7c 9s. Big lar8 showed Jh Jd. The flop came 8s Qd As and the turn was the 4s. It looked like Lar8 was good this hand. But the river brought the Qs to give Mobeyandgoat the flush and Big lar8 was out in 5th place.

We danced for 20 hands until hand 71. Antes now 100 and the blinds 400/800. Unionthug raised to 3200 UTG and gjones bumped him to 17600. Unionthug rose to the challenge to take him all-in. Unionthug had Ac Qc and gjones held Kd Ks. No help for either on the flop but the As on the turn gave Unionthug the hand. Gjones had to settle for fourth place this week.

Just a few hands later and we are seeing big action again. Hand 77 saw Mobeyandgoat raise to 2700 and bugman22j made the call. The flop came 3s 5h 9c and Mobey bet 800 – bugman pushed his last 1660 into the middle and Mobey called. Bugman22j must have figured neither had hit on the flop because he turned over Ah 6s. He was right but didn’t count on Mobeyandgoat with pocket tens. The tens held up and we had our heads up match.

They went into the match basically even. Unionthug had a slight lead but it wasn’t much. We had two very aggressive payers here so we were settling to see the fireworks. Just seven hands in they were down to the felt. Mobeyandgoat with Th Kc and Unionthug with As 9c. The flop was 9s 8h 6h strengthening Unionthug’s lead. The turn was the Qd and now the only hope for Mobey was the double gut shot draw. That was enough as the Js bobbed to the surface on the river and basically decided the match for Mobeyandgoat. It only took Mobey two more hands to mop up and we had a new winner for Holdem Affair.

It was a great match. Welcome to the new people. It is always nice to see new names at the tables. And it is always a pleasure to sit down with old friends on a Saturday night. Holdem Affair is more than just the oldest private tournament on UB – it is also the best.

PEACE.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I found a video

I think now it was a mistake because it just depresses me but I wandered over to YouTube to see if they had any footage of the flood. Of course they had a bunch of it. I found this one which I thought was quite good. It also shows our store very clearly at 30 seconds in.

Yes that is our store in the middle of the river.



This city is going to recover. It is amazing the response from the community. Our store will be back and we will see people again in that store that you see on the video.

Got to go. But I wish you peace.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

We are back in the Warehouse




Progress

We are back in the warehouse. The switch was thrown to put us back on the power grid on Monday and we are at least back in the delivery game. We can now deliver some furniture and we will start to receive shipments next week. Our trucks were damaged in the flood so we have replacements for now. Our trucks should be back next week as well. I can't wait for our name to get back on the streets.




This is our Finance Department. I have them set up in a room at the warehouse for now. That stack on the floor are contracts that they are trying to salvage. The whole department was underwater. The data was on the servers which were safe but the hard copies are a mess.

I'm not an IT guy but I have been recruited to maintain the "network" of stations during this recovery. I will be glad when my world gets back onto my normal job description and not that line that says. . . "Other duties as assigned."

I think that is a light that I see at the end of this tunnel.

Peace.