Visitor Stats

I use Statcounter to track hits on this blog, and, thanks to a comment on Wil Wheatons blog, and links from British poker bloggers web site following last Sundays British blogger tournament, I'm getting more than I've ever had before. Therefore, there is actually some volume of data for Statcounter to report on:

Operating System

			Perc.	Operating System
			49.00%	Windows XP
			34.00%	Linux
			9.00%	Windows 2000
			3.00%	Windows 2003
			1.00%	Mac OS X

34% of visitors to this blog use Linux. I'd like to say that its a sign of Linux taking off, but it's really because of a post I made about wireless networking on Ubuntu. Given that wireless networking is one of the biggest problems in setting up a Linux system, it's been quite popular.

Browser

		Perc.	Browser Name	Version
		39.00%	Firefox	2.0.0
		37.00%	MSIE	6.0
		8.00%	Opera	9.10
		7.00%	Firefox	1.5.0
		5.00%	MSIE	7.0
		2.00%	Mozilla	5.0
		1.00%	Firefox	2.0
		1.00%	Safari	1.2

Similarly, the reason for Firefox topping the browser stats will simply be because of the high proportion of Linux users coming here.

I haven't got any weird search keywords bringing people here. The most common is "ubuntu wpa-key".

The Man Behind Bodog

The BBC has an article about Chris Ayre, the founder of Bodog. The article is of course on the back of the on-line gambling ban in the States. Ayre argues that the Bodog brand is what differentiates him from the other on-line sites. I would have thought that it would be his brand diversity that will be the key to Bodog's success, music, publishing, TV, his more limited exposure to the American poker market (unlike Party!) that will continue to make Bodog a success. The brand does nothing for me, but perhaps a married 30 something with 2 kids isn't his target audience. To me, Bodog is loud and brash, with an ugly poker client.

In the Nuts

Just when everything seemed to be going well, my flopped set of Kings turns into a boat on the river, but it gives my opponent quads!

PokerStars Game #9097380666:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2007/03/26 - 10:52:30 (ET)
Table 'Montefiore' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Me($1.73 in chips)
Seat 2: givusabreak ($5.08 in chips)
Seat 3: Nobdi ($4.28 in chips)
Seat 5: MILFmeister ($1.37 in chips)
Seat 6: estellairina ($3.51 in chips)
Seat 7: DWolf3 ($5.39 in chips)
Seat 8: VinoDivino ($2.68 in chips)
Seat 9: DISH DOC ($1.61 in chips)
VinoDivino: posts small blind $0.01
DISH DOC: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Me[Kc Ks]
Me: raises $0.10 to $0.12
givusabreak: folds
Nobdi: folds
MILFmeister: calls $0.12
estellairina: folds
DWolf3: folds
VinoDivino: folds
DISH DOC: folds
*** FLOP *** [Th 8c Kh]
DISH DOC is sitting out
Me: bets $0.10
MILFmeister: raises $0.10 to $0.20
Me: raises $0.30 to $0.50
MILFmeister: raises $0.75 to $1.25 and is all-in
Me: calls $0.75
*** TURN *** [Th 8c Kh] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [Th 8c Kh Qc] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Me: shows [Kc Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Eights)
MILFmeister: shows [8s 8d] (four of a kind, Eights)
MILFmeister collected $2.67 from pot

BritBloggerment

Had a great time last night playing in the inaugural British bloggers tournament on Pokerstars. Ironically I found out about it from an American blog (Thanks Al).

There was a decent turn-out of 22 people, mostly British, but with a couple of celebrities from over the pond, in the shape of Al Can't Hang, and Katitude.

I started out playing fairly tight - not that I had a great deal of choice , the cards were crap - but finally on hand 47 I picked up 10s Ks. Not great I know, but after the rubbish I'd had up until then they looked good to me. BB was 50, I mini-raised, and was re-raised by Rosie up to 350. I called. Flop came 7s 2h 4s I bet 150, Rosie re-raised to 550. I really should have folded at this point, but, I'd had nothing up to now, I had a King high flush draw, and I convinced myself that Rosie was making a continuation bet having missed the flop! Do I feel lucky punk? I did, so I went all in, and Rosie showed 10c Ac - she had missed the flop, I had 12 outs for either a flush or a pair of Kings, she only needed an Ace. The turn was 2s, and she was drawing dead. Thats me up to 2645, and Rosie down to 650.

3 hands later in the small blind I'm dealt Qc Kc. It's folded round to me and I miniraise. Rosie is the BB, and she goes all in. I've easily got it covered, and I call. Rosie shows a pair of nines, so she's ahead. Flop is J T K, putting me in front, a 2 and a 7 don't help her, and so Rosie is out.

Much later, I'm dealt Jc Kd. BB is 200. I raise 600 preflop, everyone folds except a10419, who re-raises 2000. I have a rush of blood to the head and call, going all-in. What a donkey. He shows a pair of Jacks, so only a King is going to help me. Flop is 5 K 9 rainbow! an ace and a 3 follow, I undeservedly double up, and take some flack from the rail (thanks Rosie).

I eventually went out in 5th place, my 10 J going down to LepRecon777's K 8. Sadly only the first three places were paid. Congratulations to Al Eleven, who came back from being short stacked to beat Cadmunkey.

Thanks to Acorn and BurnleyMik for setting this up. Ihad a good time, got to drop the hammer, and narrowly avoiding a price being put on my head - Apparently being a Preston fan is acceptable to BurnleyMik, but if I had been a Blackburn Rovers fan it would have been a different matter! The banter was great, and people generally stuck around after they went out to cheer the survivors on. Hopefully this will be a regular event, and I can make it again next week. You can find another write-up of the tournament here at The Cloud's blog.

It;'s All Over Now

Well, third interview out of the way, and I've just found out I didn't get the job. Got all the usual lines - it was a tough decision, you were very close, sure another opportunity will come up for you - but bottom line is, they didn't think I was as good as the other guy.

3rd Interview!!

I have now been invited for a 3rd interview. I am assured that this will be the last. One way or another, it will all be over next week.

Ubuntu Unleashed!

I have managed to convert my wife to using Linux, specifically, Ubuntu.

She didn't actually have a great deal of choice. We have a laptop which has developed a faulty disk controller. Sometimes it recognises the HD, most of the time it doesn't. Tried different HDs, same problem.

So, do we bin the laptop, or find a way of making it work without a hard disk?

The answer to my need was found at Pendrivelinux.com.

I now have a fully functioning installation of XUbuntu (the lightweight version of Ubuntu) working on the aptop. I've even got the integrated Broadcom wireless network card working without the need for Ndiswrapper. It includes OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird, plus the Linux version of Solitaire -everything she could possibly need.

2nd Interview

Well, I either did really well or not quite well enough at the interview, because now I've got a second interview. This time it's only 20 minutes from home, rather than the 3 hour drive each way I had this week.

Interview Imminent

Interview is in two days. I've got a 3 hour drive to get there! I was expecting to be interviewed just down the road, so that was a bit of a shock.

Of Bad Beats and Hammers

I don't like to rant about people's donkey play, but when a guy calls my all in raise on the turn with ace high and a flush draw, and hits his flush on the river, I'm seriously pissed off. Fortunately I had him covered, and limped through another circuit before I was dealt the hammer. With only two big blinds left, I had to go all in. I got three callers, flopped a 7 and won with a pair. Back in the game again, I finished up 6th, with the guy who had won all my chips earlier going out before me.

What a Beautiful Day

I woke up this morning with the sun streaming through the curtains. This was a Good Thing, because I had a list of jobs to do in the garden.

The pampas grass at the bottom of our garden has started to be plucked by the birds, a sign that some of them are thinking about nesting. We used to have a huge beech hedge alongside our garden, but the neighbours ripped it out. The sparrows and tits used to nest in there, so we've put up some nesting boxes - two designed for tits, one for blackbirds.

As I ventured out into the garden there was a faint fog drifting across. Through the fog, the sun was a white disc, that you could mistake for the moon, giving the day a slightly eerie feel. On the lawn lay straw and grass in strange patterns, the remains of the kids doing an Art Attack style giant picture. Any sign of what it had been destroyed by our rabbit, who had been playing in it since it was finished.

Nesting boxes securely fastened to the shed, I moved onto the bird table. Might as well make use of the fence the neighbours have partially erected to replace the hedge. I placed a scattering of dried mealworms on it, in an effort to attract robins, blackbirds and other worm eaters to the garden. We have huge quantities of sparrows all year round, plus starlings and an occasional wren, with blue and great tits in the summer, but we're trying to increase the variety.

The fog thickened, mixing with the smoke from a fire further down the street. I hung woven nestboxes in the hedge at the end of the garden, maybe the wrens will like them. The rabbit followed me around like a dog, under my feet, wanting to be involved in whatever I was doing.

Next job was to clean out the rabbits hut, litter trays to wash, food box to refill from the big sack. This was not an easy task, as the rabbit attempted to jump into the bag of pellets as I scooped them out. Old hay, straw, sawdust and droppings go into the compost bin.

From the house comes the sound of my daughter practising the cornet - three weeks and she has passed the standard of the girl next door, who has been playing for a year. The music teacher has revised her estimate of when she will be ready to join the band, from a year down to three months! She soaks up music in the same way she soaks up facts she reads in books.

To the sound of "Twinkle Twinkle" I sweep the patio - more straw for the compost bin. Then the drain to unblock. Every time we put the washing machine on the patio floods. An easier job than I thought it would be - scoop out some mud and grit and problem solved.

So, after that, nothing to do but sit and watch the view; and watch all the birds ignore my new bird table!

The Job

My application has gone off, and I've had a an email acknowledgment, saying I will be contacted within 5 days. Closing date isn't for another two weeks though, so I assume no interview until late February.

Life with Tony G

I'm playing all my poker on TonyG at the moment (mainly because they gave a fabulous first deposit bonus). The traffic is fairly low, certainly at European playing times, so you tend to see the same people at the table. Generally its fairly friendly, though of course you get the odd idiot.

The main downside of the low traffic is the difficulty in getting a full table at the SNGs; however, today I managed to get into a $2 SNG. I know, I know, last of the big spenders, but, it was the only game in town. Actually I really enjoyed it, and I won, which always helps. When it came to the final two, I had 2500, my opponent had 11000. He tried to use his big stack to push me around, but I made the goods cards pay, and he made some loose calls. After about 20 hands the situation was completely reversed, and it was all over in my favour, and I'm $8 richer!

I spend most of my time in the micro limit cash games, where my fortunes vary, but unfortunately the trend is slowly downwards, though I am on a (at the moment) short term up-turn. Hopefully the traffic will increase, and I can play a few more SNGs.

Bible Quiz

I've just taken a quiz about the bible. Amazingly I scored 85%!

You know the Bible 85%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

More Google Raving

I've been using Google Reader for nearly a week, and I love it. The latest thing I've discovered is the ability to "share" posts I'm interested in, and, more to the point, I can include them in this blog.

So, at the top left, is snippets of articles I've decided to share with you. At the moment there's just one, but given the number of blogs I read, I'm sure that will soon grow. You can set the number of posts you want to show - I'm leaving it at the default of 5 for now.

Google Reader

I've been using Newsgator for my blog reading for some time now. It does the job I want, but I've just been reading someone raving about Google Reader

It really takes blog aggregation to a whole new level. A beautiful clean user interface, combined with a fabulous little button to put on your toolbar, that allows you to step through the blogs you've subscribed to, actually visiting the sites with new posts. So, you get the full experience of the blog as the blogger intended, if the blog has a hit counter, then the blogger gets a more accurate picture of how many readers they have, and you can few the blogs with unread posts without having to visit them all to check. Everybody wins!

Seizing the Moment

It turns out the General Manager's vacancy does exist. Don't know what it pays, but I'm sure it will be more than I'm on now. I've told my line manager about it, and he's been really supportive. I've also spoke to one of our new bosses, and he's also encouraging me to apply. Just got to get my CV sorted out. When you've worked at the same place for 20 years its not something you often think about.

Dropping The Hammer

Magnus Petersson dropped the hammer in style, during the final table of the EPT event in Copenhagen. He went all in with 27o. To his horror he was called, with A9. A flop of 2-5-Q gave him a pair (just!) and a king and a jack following failed to help his opponent, doubling Petersson up and crippling his opponent.

Petersson went on to win the event.

A World of Opportunities?

Work has suddenly become very interesting. Not sure yet if it is in a good way or a bad way.

The company I work for has just been bought out by a PLC. We have gone from being a successful independent company to a small part of a large national company. The major shareholders have left, and the new owners are moving in.

We don't know how the management of our site will be organised. Apparently every other site is run by a General Manager. I've got my eye on that position. I think I'm the best person for the job. However, in the mean time, I have heard that there is a vacancy for a General Manager at another site, close enough to home that I won't have to relocate. It seems to me that, though I'd rather be General Manager where I am, this probably won't be decided for a while, and I have to grasp the opportunity at the other site. Even if I don't get the job, it raises my profile, and notifies our new lords and masters of my ambition.

Having worked here for 20 years, working my way up the greasy pole, it would be quite a wrench to leave; though, in some ways, it is probably easier to take on a position like that where you are not known, where you haven't been promoted over the heads of your colleagues. It has happened to me throughout my career. I am now over many people I used to work alongside, or who I even reported to. Most of them don't have a problem with it; a few always will.

Petition Against Software Patents

British citizens, sign up here on a petition to the Prime Minister to stop software patents.