The tournament was a success!

We had 79 players (two short of being full) and it took ~5 hours to get to one player standing. We grossed about $17,000 so our net will be around $11,000. About $6,000 short of last year but not too bad considering the economy is in a recession the shitter. It was a good turnout and people had fun, can't ask for much more than that.

In other news, we had a 5.8 earthquake in So. Cal. today. It felt like two separate quakes, one right after the other. Both were "rollers", the fun kind where nothing actually breaks or falls off the walls. No pictures for you today, sorry.

It's Poker Time!

Tomorrow is the 4th Annual Debbie Templeton Charity Poker Tournament. This year was the first year that I did not produce the entire tournament myself. In previous years I have planned and executed the entire event. Don't get me wrong, I've had help from friends and family, but for the most part I ran the show.

I scoured the earth for prizes; I went door-to-door to businesses to get sponsorships; I set up the Dealers & Tables; I researched and applied for the CA DOJ gaming license; I secured the location; I set up the caterer. I did it all.

So this year, the Santa Clarita Valley Jaycees formed a committee to help out. After all they are receiving 10% of the proceeds. And after all that is going on in my personal life right now, what better time to have a committee help out? Heck, I'm not even listed as the Event Chairperson this year. So let's see what I did this year:

I scoured the earth for prizes; I set up the Dealers & Tables; I researched and applied for the CA DOJ gaming license; I secured the location.

Sweet! I didn't have to go door-to-door for sponsorships and I didn't have to get the caterer. Problem is, I still had to get all the sponsors and we are having to pay for a caterer (which has been free or included in the location costs previously).

I think this will be the last year of the tournament as it stands. Next year, if we do it, it will be much smaller and have a different format. We will donate the proceeds straight to the charity we want without having to give up anything to other organizations.

If you'd like to play, visit www.bmcf.net/poker.

Do Not Use 1800Flowers.com.

I used to love 1800flowers.com. Their flowers were fresh, always arrived on time and the price was comparable to going to a local florist, maybe a little less.

No More. I ordered some Martha Stewart roses for someone's birthday on Tuesday. I have ordered flowers on many different occasions through 1800flowers and never had an issue. This is what I ordered:



On Tuesday, they were not delivered. I checked the status and found a UPS tracking number. Yup. U-P-S was delivering my wife's birthday flowers. In July. In Southern California. Problem is they didn't deliver them. Something about needing more info for the address, which is bull shit. So they sat in the truck to be delivered today.

Guess what? Not delivered today. "They will be delivered tomorrow". After sitting in the back of a 100+ degree UPS truck for THREE DAYS? Really?!?

Actually, no they wont. They've been canceled, give me my money back, customer lost. F-U.

What busy weekend!

Friday night was my monthly poker league. Had a horrible turnout, only 13 players. Kinda makes me wonder if it's still worth it for all the work it takes for me to put it on. Maybe I'll start taking a rake for lugging all that crap back and forth each week. And I was doing OK but got busted by a bad beat, on the river, again. Arrgghh.

Then Saturday I hung out with the kiddies. It's neat to watch them becoming friends and playing together. Saturday night I went to a concert in the park by "No Duh" an No Doubt tribute band. They were great, except in between songs when they really tried just way too hard to be funny. Although, it was a 1:30 long set so I know they were just trying to kill time, but using the same joke 10 times gets old fast. As always, a couple pics below and more on my flickr account...

Time to catch up....

It's been a busy couple weeks. We had J.T.'s (and Aiden's) birthday and the 4th of July. First time in my life I think I didn't go to a BBQ or something on the 4th, but I did get to see fireworks for the first time in about 4 years. Enough of that. Here are some pictures, as always, visit my Flickr for more!

Had a nice morning with J.T. on Monday. It was his 1st birthday (I know, already?!) and I took the little guy to Gymboree. He loved it. Crawling all over the place, interacting with the other kids, it was really nice to see him enjoy it. We may need to look into having go to some more classes.

The rest of the day was a disaster for various reasons (including the lightning speed of the employees at the local Sprint store and a Sam's Club trip from hell) but the time we got to spend with him and seeing him so happy made the day.



J.T. also had his first taste of cake. I think he likes it.




More of both at Flickr