Wow! Finally, the Rio was my first stop when I hit Vegas on Friday. I looked for some of my favorite media people but saw not one…I did see media but no one I knew. Seth Palansky was in the media room and I almost gasped out loud when I saw how much weight he’d lost. I’m crossing my fingers it was planned and not a health issue – it doesn’t look healthy IMHO.
Tom Sexton
Hey kids, help Tom Sexton and family out. This in from Linda Johnson, first lady of poker:
Do help if you can. If you can’t donate cash, send good thoughts and energy for the whole family.
Dragging ass and still have work to do
It’s one minute before midnight. I knew I’d make it back today. Yuppers, I can barely function but I’m here. Last night, the 4th of July, I made it to bed at 3:30 a.m. and didn’t catch nearly enough sleep to make me feel good…even picked up a nap but that didn’t help much either so here I am, wishing I was tucking in but still thinking I need to stand by my word for hell sake.
The 4th was brutal. I planted a tree in my front yard – in varying degrees of ‘done’ because it was 112 or so. I got in a text war with the woman that is the mother of my two youngest grandkids – and very pregnant with the third one. Does this woman know what causes babies? Fked if I know…but at 40 years old with two older kids from two different guys, one would think so. I see pregnant people now and just cringe, thinking back on the whole experience – and the fact that they NEVER grow up and you always have to help out. Just bitchin…
Anyway, she was rude, I’d recount it all here but it’s not worth the effort it takes to write the drama out from my phone. She is in an on-and-off relationship with my son…don’t think I’m taking his side in this matter, he’s not handling life as a responsible adult IMHO when it comes to kids and sleeping over (that’s a nice way of saying ‘fucking around’ when he knows what causes babies).
She got pissed at him so she took a spare set of car keys he had at her place, had someone give her a ride, and she went to the shop where he was working and stole his car. She parked it somewhere away from home and I guess she thought she was teaching him a lesson, because he works about 12 miles from the shop. I don’t see how that solves anything. I told her to boot his ass out if she couldn’t handle his lifestyle and she played the “oh woe is me, I’m innocent” by telling me she wasn’t keeping him there, he could leave any time he wanted. Really? You are where you are because you want to be there dumbass. Both of them.
Of course I got phone calls and text messages because that’s what kids do…they punish you by making you live their life through contact. Enough on that subject.
Along with the horrid heat, and the fire up on the mountain noted in yesterday’s post, we had massive winds that erupted out of nowhere and then died down, thunder boomers and lightning, three drops of rain hit my arm when I was out planting, and then the fireworks (7 miles away but still very audible) and my war dog went into ‘jam up and jelly tight’ rolling her eye balls back in her head, fidgeting, pacing, sticking her nose in the back of my knee and every time I moved, she tried to anticipate my move and got in the way.
I was installing a folding door in the hallway that has the W&D and goes out to the deck in back…trying to drill holes, sawing off the top bar to fit the doorway (purpose of the folding door was to help cut some of the heat out of the house), and I didn’t feel very good to boot.
Plus, I had Riot for a full month, took him home on Tuesday, his momparental texted me on Wed. and told me he had been vomiting and had diarrhea since he got home. Really?
A few more phone texts and she said she called his Dr. and it was heat exhaustion. Really? Where did that come from? We were mostly inside the house while he was here other than swimming next door. And he drank a ton of gatorade and water so… I must question this because it makes no sense. I think he may self-induce sickness because he never wants to go back home.
Then I tried calling and texting all day and evening on Thursday…4th of July…no answer. FK! I tried again today, numerous times. He called me tonight and wanted to know when I was coming back to get him. Guess you would have to know what I know to understand how stressful it is when your grandkids are having issues.
Back to the fire, when I left Vegas late Tuesday and made it over ‘the hump,’ I could see the dark smoke off to the right in the distance. I got a few pictures about a half hour later when I got down to the Tecopa turn out. I hate the power lines in the picture but I would have had to climbed through or over a barb wire fence to keep from capturing them…that ain’t gonna happen. The last one was taken after I got home, from my backyard.
On the evening/night of the 4th, the smoke was a massive billow and as night progressed, the whole top of the mountain, along the skyline, was a red/orange glow.
Now that I’ve lived through the 4th, I’m tired. 🙂
On the poker front, that’s going to happen at another time. And tomorrow I really am going to the Rio and see what’s left of the WSOP – the main event starts today…I think.
Laters.
4th of July – BOO
This isn’t long, it’s short and tart, and my pillow is calling my name. I didn’t celebrate anything today…for one thing, I don’t think those of us who live in the U.S. are free. But that’s another story. There’s a fire burning as I write, up in the Spring Mountains, and it’s devastating, destroying the mountains and the wildlife and who knows if people who reside in those areas will even have a home to return to. Continue reading 4th of July – BOO
Adelson; the IRS; and life
I can’t decide if I should laugh or cry at the way Sheldon Adelson steps up to the sounding block to make sure the world knows he is against online gambling/poker. On the laughing side of it, I’d liken him to appointing himself to a station that resembles Hitler’s attempt to take over the world. Continue reading Adelson; the IRS; and life
Kickin in the desert heat
The weather has been too strange, it’s about 70 out right now, nice light breeze, the windows are open and it feels great. We had a ‘heat wave’ warning last week. It was 112 or so for a few days, but the nights cooled off on all high-heat days except one. Continue reading Kickin in the desert heat
The government is giving me the blues
A few weeks ago I was at a stop sign, turning right into the dual lane Highway 160. Turn signal on, complete stop, look both ways, a white car is coming towards me from the left in the outside lane which is the one I’m going into. That car had to be about 300 yards from me and the speed limit is 45. For a brief second I thought it might be a cop car, but there was no bar across the top, no lights on, and I had plenty of time to pull out. Continue reading The government is giving me the blues
The WSOP started without me
Car problems have kept me from romping the hallowed halls of the Rio in search of my media pass. I believe I will make it on Friday if everything goes as I have planned – that may not coincide with what the universe has planned so I penciled it in. Continue reading The WSOP started without me
Playing a little online poker in NV
I’ve played legal, real-money online poker in Nevada. Crazy Daisy! Once the Verizon issue was worked out, it seemed a few more cell phone issues were resolved and I was able to log-in, deposit, and play — as noted in the last post, Verizon is not my carrier. I couldn’t deposit with my bank issued debit card but could through a Paypal mastercard. I’m guessing my bank isn’t going for anything out of the ordinary right now, but who knows why one would work and one wouldn’t?
I’m not thrilled with Ultimate Poker’s software or their lack of conveniences like ‘waiting lists’ and a variety of other things. Yah…I understand the need to ‘be first’ and did read their whole explanation. I would like other game choices – NLH is not my favorite. I would like other game choices in tournaments although I am better geared for NLH tournies than I am ring games.
I didn’t deposit much, I haven’t won a penny, I’m not broke yet so there are options available here. 🙂
I am anxiously awaiting the coming of other online poker rooms to Nevada — expected by the end of 2013 if everything goes as planned. Then we need the interstate pacts between all the states, and to lose the frigging ‘bad actor’ clause so we can get in on all the great promos offered by all the poker sites, and somewhere in here the feds should step into the picture and decide we need to change the laws and put everyone under the same net. Not sure if this wishful thinking or lunacy. The feds can screw and skew it all IMHO and we could be back to square one while we wait.
I had a birthday, so did my oldest boy, since my last post. Oh happy day!
Riot may spend the summer with me, not sure how that’s going as of yet but we’ll see.
Yeah, the WSOP is coming to the desert again. I wish I was going to play something in it but there are a lot of factors that aren’t adding up to an equation that will get me there. I think we should be able to sue the feds for taking away our chances of freerolls and satellites online that could put us in a WSOP package. Most definitely players that are still waiting for FTP funds to be distributed should be able to sue for their funds, for interest, and for not being able to freeroll into big land-based poker packages.
I feel a glass of wine coming on…it’s stalking me…calling my name…
Online poker dealt in Nevada, I got dealt out – UPDATED
I live in Nevada, and I’m about 3 to 4 miles from the California state line, but still…I’m a Nevada resident in Nye County. I tried to jump right in and play, or watch, the first hands of legal, real-money, online poker when cards went in the air today at Ultimate Poker.
I downloaded, registered, even gave my SS number and address, and the required cell phone number. Once I got through the required details, they sent a text through to my phone. I texted back “yes” and got the message that “Ultimate Poker Location verification is enabled. Login and Play. Blah, blah, blah.
But when I logged in, I got a flag that said they were unable to verify a Nevada Location and I should contact customer support. The flag went on to say “NOTICE TO VERIZON WIRELESS USERS: due to a technical error on the Verizon Wireless end in Nevada, Ultimate Poker may be unable to verify your location.”
All well and good except I’m not a Verizon customer. I use StraightTalk which is a leg off of AT&T and the Ultimate Poker ‘flag’ says supported providers are Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
So an email to customer service got me this:
Ultimate Poker Player Care (Angel) (Ultimate Poker)
Apr 30 12:30 (MDT)
Hi Linda,
Try texting “YES” to UPOKER (which is 876537). Let us know if this fails.
Thank you for contacting Ultimate Poker.
Angel
Player Care Ace
Ultimate Poker
And immediately following that got another email saying my request was resolved and closed. Yeah…right buddy. So I sent another one. I’ve heard nothing. They’re probably swamped with all kinds of glitches and issues and since I’ve waited since Black Friday to play online poker legally, what’s another day or so. I’d almost bet I will never be able to play poker online in Nevada from my current location. Fucking sucks, Kids.
On another note, I spent last weekend in Las Vegas, unplugged from the computer for two days, and in general had a pretty good time. That’s probably my next blog post so check back.
UPDATED: 5.2.13 A second email from support at Ultimate Poker
Ultimate Poker Player Care (Angel) (Ultimate Poker)
May 01 13:38 (MDT)
We understand that some players with LTE-enabled phones are also receiving an error that we are unable to locate them in Nevada. Disabling LTE on your phone and logging in again should alleviate this problem.
For instructions on how to disable LTE on an iPhone 5: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/09/21/how-to-turn-off-4g-lte-on-the-iphone-5/
For instructions on how to disable LTE on a Samsung Galaxy: http://forum.radioshack.wdsserve.com/t5/Mobile-Product-Support/Samsung-Galaxy-S3-Disable-Enable-LTE/m-p/57790
Once again, we apologize for any frustration caused during your registration process. Please be assured that we’re working hard to resolve all of these issues, and we hope to get you playing soon.
Please don’t hesitate to e-mail us at [email protected] if you require further assistance on this or any other issue.
Sincerely,
-The Ultimate Poker Player Care Team
Angel
Player Care Ace
Ultimate Poker
It didn’t work for me, I have an older iPhone but I did try it. Online poker is in in Nevada and I’m still out! *sniff*