Christmas was swank… Everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts I got for them, and the Bacon Wrap was a huge hit. I got lots of neat toys to play with, several books, and a few games.. I used some gift cards today to buy a Nintendo DS along with Mario 64 DS, which should be fun as I never played the original…. In addition to the time I’ve spent with my family, I’ve had the chance to hang out with several of my friends… Let me tell you, staying at the house here is much nicer after the renovations…. :)

I figured I would post this comment graph, which apparently goes back to when I started this thing almost 5 years ago.

Who’s been commenting in your journal?

1	grahams		1152 comments	28.97% of total
2	jerronimo		331 comments	8.32% of total
3	kylec		167 comments	4.2% of total
4	jon		165 comments	4.15% of total
5	shacker		147 comments	3.7% of total
6	wxs		93 comments	2.34% of total
7	phyber		89 comments	2.24% of total
8	nuzz		82 comments	2.06% of total
9	joe714		80 comments	2.01% of total
10	coco_b		77 comments	1.94% of total
11	jeffm		76 comments	1.91% of total
12	liqwid		61 comments	1.53% of total
13	artica		52 comments	1.31% of total
14	mattw		52 comments	1.31% of total
15	chrisc		48 comments	1.21% of total
16	boba		46 comments	1.16% of total
17	pavo		34 comments	0.86% of total
18	sabado		34 comments	0.86% of total
19	hastybreaching		33 comments	0.83% of total
20	chuckmoulton		32 comments	0.8% of total
21	oldlady		30 comments	0.75% of total
22	soco		29 comments	0.73% of total
23	aimr9		29 comments	0.73% of total
24	brocklisoup		28 comments	0.7% of total
25	dezco62		28 comments	0.7% of total
26	tangwyn		27 comments	0.68% of total
27	jerseyboop		27 comments	0.68% of total
28	spampy		25 comments	0.63% of total
29	gramatan		24 comments	0.6% of total
30	tatyana		24 comments	0.6% of total
31	kurtm		24 comments	0.6% of total
32	jluke		24 comments	0.6% of total
33	elph		24 comments	0.6% of total
34	tolaria		21 comments	0.53% of total
35	krasnayath		21 comments	0.53% of total
36	leviticus		21 comments	0.53% of total
37	bizkiffer		20 comments	0.5% of total
38	patrickwonders		20 comments	0.5% of total
39	squimpy8		19 comments	0.48% of total
40	tigreyes		19 comments	0.48% of total
41	sivart		19 comments	0.48% of total
42	origamipoptart		17 comments	0.43% of total
43	jellopixy		17 comments	0.43% of total
44	lordxyyndragon		16 comments	0.4% of total
45	email_christen		15 comments	0.38% of total
46	jsbrown		15 comments	0.38% of total
47	james_kieliszek		15 comments	0.38% of total
48	aelphaba		15 comments	0.38% of total
49	mattcampbell		14 comments	0.35% of total
50	jeresig		14 comments	0.35% of total
51	equalize		14 comments	0.35% of total
52	rioma		13 comments	0.33% of total
53	notweak		12 comments	0.3% of total
54	eliza_n		12 comments	0.3% of total
55	killthisbody		11 comments	0.28% of total
56	adamfletcher		11 comments	0.28% of total
57	toast14		10 comments	0.25% of total
58	wickidpisa		10 comments	0.25% of total
59	pickity		10 comments	0.25% of total
60	kaijima		9 comments	0.23% of total
61	freqency		9 comments	0.23% of total
62	softest_cookie		9 comments	0.23% of total
63	roryk		9 comments	0.23% of total
64	tommut		8 comments	0.2% of total
65	riffraff		8 comments	0.2% of total
66	andyp		8 comments	0.2% of total
67	kukester		8 comments	0.2% of total
68	rachakate		8 comments	0.2% of total
69	egon		8 comments	0.2% of total
70	csh_rhubarb		7 comments	0.18% of total
71	cshsandman		7 comments	0.18% of total
72	gillybean		7 comments	0.18% of total
73	jlyon1515		7 comments	0.18% of total
74	sberg		7 comments	0.18% of total
75	xevokitty		7 comments	0.18% of total
76	airwick		6 comments	0.15% of total
77	del		6 comments	0.15% of total
78	diji		6 comments	0.15% of total
79	dan_lee		6 comments	0.15% of total
80	machingo		6 comments	0.15% of total
81	indiana_england		6 comments	0.15% of total
82	antiduh		5 comments	0.13% of total
83	naten		5 comments	0.13% of total
84	mollyis		4 comments	0.1% of total
85	lostlittlesoul7		4 comments	0.1% of total
86	nasteratu		4 comments	0.1% of total
87	dadeo		4 comments	0.1% of total
88	gile		4 comments	0.1% of total
89	stonecoldsober		4 comments	0.1% of total
90	gadb		4 comments	0.1% of total
91	tophertg		4 comments	0.1% of total
92	the_gil_monster		4 comments	0.1% of total
93	acid_e		4 comments	0.1% of total
94	tao		4 comments	0.1% of total
95	enigma72		4 comments	0.1% of total
96	cristinamoo		3 comments	0.08% of total
97	peanut666		3 comments	0.08% of total
98	troublejen		3 comments	0.08% of total
99	mneptok		3 comments	0.08% of total
100	luke0x		3 comments	0.08% of total
101	ajc		3 comments	0.08% of total
102	eyelid		3 comments	0.08% of total
103	livelyjay		3 comments	0.08% of total
104	cairyn		3 comments	0.08% of total
105	massacre_please		3 comments	0.08% of total
106	suppafly		3 comments	0.08% of total
107	bits		3 comments	0.08% of total
108	thehangedman		3 comments	0.08% of total
109	johnsonphoto		3 comments	0.08% of total
110	rhiannonstone		3 comments	0.08% of total
111	boxcar00		3 comments	0.08% of total
112	sisterwronk		3 comments	0.08% of total
113	bradfitz		3 comments	0.08% of total
114	tattooedsteve		2 comments	0.05% of total
115	ladydinl		2 comments	0.05% of total
116	mcfnord		2 comments	0.05% of total
117	dinomite		2 comments	0.05% of total
118	dlindhuber		2 comments	0.05% of total
119	ojdorson		2 comments	0.05% of total
120	seanadams		2 comments	0.05% of total
121	patrickl		2 comments	0.05% of total
122	mancomb		2 comments	0.05% of total
123	etrepum		2 comments	0.05% of total
124	blueruinn		2 comments	0.05% of total
125	lebastard		2 comments	0.05% of total
126	screwbacca		2 comments	0.05% of total
127	txgirl		2 comments	0.05% of total
128	wildfl0werz		2 comments	0.05% of total
129	be_matt		2 comments	0.05% of total
130	ldgtutu		2 comments	0.05% of total
131	jeek		2 comments	0.05% of total
132	micah_gideon		2 comments	0.05% of total
133	daddeo		2 comments	0.05% of total
134	ups3055		2 comments	0.05% of total
135	eltouristo		2 comments	0.05% of total
136	decause		2 comments	0.05% of total
137	kismeimemo		2 comments	0.05% of total
138	morallybass		1 comments	0.03% of total
139	cambridgemass		1 comments	0.03% of total
140	starfate22		1 comments	0.03% of total
141	jamiew		1 comments	0.03% of total
142	petef		1 comments	0.03% of total
143	dreamwoven		1 comments	0.03% of total
144	icrazybeautiful		1 comments	0.03% of total
145	submachinegun		1 comments	0.03% of total
146	yvon		1 comments	0.03% of total
147	ximxadorkablex		1 comments	0.03% of total
148	chelseagurl		1 comments	0.03% of total
149	ikarinokawa		1 comments	0.03% of total
150	hundred_reasons		1 comments	0.03% of total
151	angellike		1 comments	0.03% of total
152	radnor		1 comments	0.03% of total
153	alexatrit		1 comments	0.03% of total
154	tr		1 comments	0.03% of total
155	wjdresden		1 comments	0.03% of total
156	ytb		1 comments	0.03% of total
157	illomatic		1 comments	0.03% of total
158	tiffania		1 comments	0.03% of total
159	bulgingego		1 comments	0.03% of total
160	nikhil		1 comments	0.03% of total
161	marm0t		1 comments	0.03% of total
162	pratorian		1 comments	0.03% of total
163	sveter		1 comments	0.03% of total
164	jen05		1 comments	0.03% of total
165	shimmer_angel		1 comments	0.03% of total
166	neo_ark		1 comments	0.03% of total
167	jmars		1 comments	0.03% of total
168	klutzywaitress		1 comments	0.03% of total
169	jakers22		1 comments	0.03% of total
170	faithlesswonder		1 comments	0.03% of total
171	alex27782		1 comments	0.03% of total
172	darcysiva		1 comments	0.03% of total
173	emil_lazarian		1 comments	0.03% of total
174	webwawa		1 comments	0.03% of total
175	newsnewsmedia		1 comments	0.03% of total
176	dostoevsky_girl		1 comments	0.03% of total
177	rat_girl3		1 comments	0.03% of total
178	malaul		1 comments	0.03% of total
179	bouncykitten		1 comments	0.03% of total
180	dragon_queen400		1 comments	0.03% of total
181	lumpy_lia		1 comments	0.03% of total
182	eva_b		1 comments	0.03% of total
183	marata9991		1 comments	0.03% of total
184	valentit_love9		1 comments	0.03% of total
185	thabeandip		1 comments	0.03% of total
186	bayes		1 comments	0.03% of total
187	meatboy		1 comments	0.03% of total
188	coweatman		1 comments	0.03% of total
189	ber_michelle		1 comments	0.03% of total
190	neptune		1 comments	0.03% of total
191	hs4g		1 comments	0.03% of total
192	mikec		1 comments	0.03% of total
193	bds		1 comments	0.03% of total
194	modpixie		1 comments	0.03% of total
195	johnnyopsu		1 comments	0.03% of total
196	namelessjon		1 comments	0.03% of total

These statistics were generated using the LJ Stats Web Interface by mpnolan. Original idea from scrapdog‘s LJ Comment Stats Wizard.

I bugged out of work Tuesday around my normal time, perhaps a shade early, and drove down 95 to Foxwoods… Got there without incident around 7pm, and met up with who was playing at the 20/40 tables. He had been there all day, and the day before, so he was really in a groove… Playing there on weekdays is a completely different feel, not that the 4/8 players are any better, but it is just far less crowded.. The tables were all full, but the waiting lists were near-empty. BTW, for those that have heard me bitch about it before, Foxwoods has FINALLY replaced the waiting lists whiteboards with a computerized system… It looks like ass, but is much, much better, and you can readably see ALL of the lists from pretty much anywhere in the poker room thanks to the big projection screens…

After a bit of a warm-up period (I haven’t played in quite awhile) I probably played the best, tightest poker of my life.. I barely opened my mouth at the table, and didn’t play many hands, which left most everyone at the table intimidated. The only times I really spoke up was when I was wishing this one guy a happy birthday or when I was needling someone… I have decided that one of my strengths playing poker is detecting when someone is on/near tilt and shoving them way past the breaking point both with my play and with my big mouth.. I hadn’t said anything for an hour or two last night, and and been folding hands for about as long. I won three hands in a row, one against birthday boy and the two others against his friends… After the third one (against mr. birthday), I could tell he was getting pissed, so I turned to him and said “You have any more friends?”. Holy shit did he lose his mind… :) He paid out me and the rest of the table for the following 45 minutes… I ended the night around midnight, up like 10 big bets (which is pretty good for 5 hours or so of play). I grabbed rory’s room key and headed back to the hotel room exhausted… Rory came back from the poker room at like 6:30am… I had his key, so he had to wake me up when he got back to the room, but I didn’t mind.. We chatted it up for like an hour and went to bed at 7:30a, setting the alarm for 10:30a… We woke up around then, made it back to the poker room around noon, but neither of us were really into it.. I knew I had to leave early so I could continue on to NJ, so I was only planning on playing until 3pm or so… I played until 2pm and had a few good hands killed on the river, and when I left the casino at 2pm, I had killed my profits and was even with when I walked in the night before… That’s the problem with sitting down for such a short period of time, one or two bad hands and you aren’t going to have the time to recover… I didn’t lose money though, so whatever… I am contemplating heading down to AC sometime next week, so I will just make it back then.

I left the casino at 2pm, but didn’t make it back to NJ until like 7pm, which is ridiculous.. There was traffic at every turn, the most notable stretch was from the end of the Tappan Zee to 287, and also the mystery bottleneck between denville and Rt. 15 on 80… That section is like perpetually backed up for no discernable reason. It’s nice being home with the Fam and not having to feel like I have to turn around right away and drive back. I spent quite a bit of time wrapping and crap tonight, I can’t wait to give some more gifts… and I exchanged gifts on Friday, since she flew out on Monday… She got me a few more South Park talking dolls to accompany Timmy… I now have talking Jimmy and Butters/Prof. Chaos, which are awesome.. When I opened Jimmy and pressed his “talk button”, Corinna thought it was broken, but it was just Jimmy stuttering… :)

I am taking tomorrow off. After work tonight I am going to drive down to Foxwoods to play some poker… is down there, and is staying overnight, so I am going to poker it up tonight and tomorrow, and after I am done finish the drive to NJ tomorrow evening… Should be fun.

‘s brother Tom rocks

This, ladies and gentlemen, is just one more reason why I love the internet.

Regarding the mild hub-bub over all of the bogus anti-christmas crap that O’Reilly and others have been spewing:

Things got even uglier during a segment on MSNBC Dec. 8, when William Donahue of the arch-conservative Catholic League insisted, “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It’s not a secret, OK? Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes.”

Who mentions anal sex in one sentence and nativity scenes in the next? Sexually frustrated catholics, that’s who. :)

Went to a Boston Linux/Unix Users Group meeting at MIT today, the guest of honor was Rob Getschmann, brother of Sharon and brother-in-law of Chris…  He did a presentation on the BSDs, which while interesting, was a rehash of a lot of stuff I already knew…  I don’t know why I keep trying to like User Groups…

I decided to do something useful with the $100 I won at the Goodrich Holiday Party so I donated a Onyx GBA SP, a “Zelda: Link to the Past” GBA game, and a DVD of Tron to Child’s Play.  For the uninitiated, Child’s Play is a charity organized by the fine fellows of Penny Arcade!, my favorite webcomic.  They created the charity last year to combat all the negative stereotypes of Gamers, as well as to do something good for the Seattle Children’s Hospital.  More than $250,000 worth of games, toys, etc were donated last year.  This year, the charity has expanded to include 4 more children’s hospitals around the country…

I strongly urge you to check out the site, look at the Amazon Wishlists for the hospitals, and see if you can find some extra cash lying around to help some sick kids.

got me an awesome souvenir from his last trip to Palmdale (since Goodrich doesn’t seem interested in sending me to flight test…):

Continue reading “Matt Rules” →