So CNN has a news story about a company in California that is taking orders for kittens that have been genetically engineered to NOT affect people with cat allergies.(see link bellow)

Wow… buy some Benadryl for crying out loud?

(besides I somehow doubt that people who are allergic to cats are kept up at night weeping about the kitten they’ll never have)

It says something about our country when science money and R&D hours are spent genetically altering kittens to be a lees potent allergen … instead of trying to cure the allergy.

I’m not sure what it says about our country… but it does say SOMETHING.

But I must admit…

I want won of dim wittle cute genetwickwie altered kitty witties!!

It’s been brought to my attention that my last comment really should have been a Blog…

So here ya’ go…

---

Well it was an interesting weekend…

Purdue played like a drunken intramural team, but I played pretty well in poker.

The universe has gone all lopsided.

Jana didn’t fair too well this time.

She re-bought once but still didn’t make it past the first break.

I got put at a very interesting table.

Two of the most aggressive players were there… (I was right in the middle of them).

Had to play pretty tight to make it past the first hour.

(that’s when people can re-buy and super aggressive players call anything because they don’t have much to lose)

Well I made it past the first hour and then some.

All the way to the final table.

The Meade family representin’ each week so far.

Here’s how the action ended.

Nine players at the final table.

Two dropped out leaving seven and a couple were getting short staked. (Including me)

I got dealt K-10 and decided to play it.

The short stack called and the rest of the table folded.

The short stack is sitting there with two broken legs (literally!) and I think he just wanted to go home.

The flop came K,7,10

Wow top two pair. I thought I’d let him make the bet.

I checked, he bet, and I pretended to think a bit before I called.

The turn was a 6 and just as I’d hoped he bet ALL-IN.

He put me on a 7,8 straight draw. (a lower draw than his… he was wrong).

I called.

He flipped over A,Q He needed a Jack.

I flipped over my K,10 and he started packing up.

But … you guessed it… the jack came on the river and I was knocked out in seventh place.

I’m a little surprised he went all in that late into a straight draw… but hey whaddya gonna do?

Well let me try to take a few minutes to Blog here.

I’d Blog about Purdue but it still hurts to think about.
So Poker is the topic of the day.

Last Friday Jana and I went to a local Hold’em Tourney on the south side of town.
It’s a pretty neat tourney.

Top three players place in the money and the top 5 get points.

Top points winners each month get $100 and a free seat in the $750 buy-in tourney that sends one lucky person to the World Series of Poker!

I was so tired (I’m not exaggerating here) that I couldn’t even add up the chips in my stack to place a bet. Or count up what was in the pot. I had no business playing.

I made it past the first break but was eliminated shortly after.
Jana however kicked butt as usual. (I’m taking careful notes and trying to learn from her)

She made it to the final table and was the second largest chip stack.
She made it down to the final four which means she had earned some points and was one away from “in the money”.

The guy on her right was severely sort stacked and all Jana really had to do was wait for him to bust out (the blinds were killing him) and she’s be in the money.

But the poker player in her couldn’t resist calling an ALL-IN bet from the third place player as she had Ace-Queen.

The cards were flipped and he has two Kings.

A classic battle. The crowd around the final table gasped and everyone was silent as the cards fell.

If she could win this hand she’s have a commanding chip lead and would be able to bully the rest of the table.

She didn’t catch an Ace or a Queen, and was out in 4th place.
One away from the money.
But she played brilliantly.

Being our first time there not many people really knew our names.

This unknown girl made the final table and damn near won the whole thing. Everyone was calling her “Annie Duke” all night. It was awesome.

This Friday (tomorrow) we’re going back.

One or two coworkers are going with me and I’m going to get some sleep!

Stay tuned!

What an awful F’n weekend.

It’s not something I want relive enough to type about but, despite Jana’s BRILLIANT display of poker at the afore mentioned tourney, this weekend was the worst in recent history.

What’s worse is that this week can only get worse.

And the week after that will be even worse than this one.

Ugh…

When my ulcer calms down a bit I’ll tell you all about Jana’s great poker night.

Well this is a HUGE weekend.

Homecoming weekend at Purdue. That in and of itself is always a grand time.

But this year the 5th ranked Boilermakers are being featured on ESPN’s “Game Day”.

Purdue is playing VERY well to date and Saturday when they crush Wisconsin on the National stage West Lafayette is gonna explode!

It’ll be a blast and I can’t wait.

Of course it’s also a chance to see old friends and hang out on memory lane for a while.

I’m looking forward to that as well. It’s been too long. (I can almost hear the bell tower now…)

Tonight, being Friday, already counts as the weekend so I guess tonight counts in that big weekend.

Jana and I are going to play some poker at a live tourney tonight. Should be a lot of fun.

Wish us luck and send us all the good vibes you can spare tonight from 7:00pm ’til 1:00am.

(man getting up tomorrow for the game is gonna be rough!)

Ok so it comes down to this…

A) I’m way to busy to come up with new, exciting, witty, and/or impactful Blogs all the time.

(I wish that weren’t the case but it is)

B) Blogs are meant to be updated… and often.

Quite the paradox.

I guess that really only leaves me with a couple of options.

1) Change the nature of my Blog

2) Change the nature of my Life

Let’s explore each briefly.

1) Change the nature of my Blog:

Well the most obvious solution to content problems like this is to make the Blog different.

Like focusing more on the daily journal aspects of Blogging. This is an interesting idea as it would provide a lot of content. There’s always something going on here, or some goal/interest that has my attention at the moment…

but I’m not sure anyone really wants to peer that deeply into my soul, or has a desire to really understand the intricate aspects of my everyday life and/or decision making strategies.

And frankly I’m not sure I want anyone looking.

I’m not about to post bad poetry or a top ten list of my deepest desires.

And after all I’m not a female 18 year old college cheerleader who loves horses, and just can’t find a “nice guy” so really who would care to read it anyway.

2) Change the nature of my Life:

It seems to me that my Blog is hindered mostly by work.

If I could somehow escape that I could focus my life on the things I am passionate about and still find time to Blog.

Right now I work a lot and that barely leaves time for Family, Cigars, Poker, Music, Languages… etc, etc.

Sadly I’ve yet to work out a solid near term plan for exiting the rat race.

So I’m in a bit of a pickle here.

I have however decided that I should do the following things (in addition to my on going quest for fun/witty content).

- Focus on my progress towards certain goals of mine.

- Set aside a certain amount of time for Blogging… even if it’s quick.

A bit from each option I suppose.

While I realize the goal tracking is a bit more “journal” like than the things I usually post here… it is after all… DOUGMEADE.com.

If you want an endless onslaught of satire and wit go check The Onion.

Here at DougMeade.com you’re just going to get used to a bit of content about… Doug Meade.

It will also help keep me on track and accountable for many things.

For instance the McDonald’s lunch I just had did NOTHING to move me towards my fitness goals.

Had my fitness goals been public I may have thought twice about that.

Also as I set time aside to Blog I fully realize that there may not me much to say.

Those are the risks… but it’s better than not allocating ANY time and letting the site sit stagnant for weeks and weeks.

I’m not sure what this will do to my comment count, I guess we’ll find out together.

But please do comment when you can. If I post about my fitness goals and no-one demands accountability I’m likely to let myself believe nobody read that one at all.

And of course I have TONS of plans to make DougMeade.com even more interactive and fun.

Yup fun beyond the Blog.

I’ve been promising this a long time I know…

One day it will be done.

Well that’s all for now.

I’ll start the new DougMeade.com paradigm with all speed.

It’s a little less grand out there today.

The world is without a great actor, a perpetual optimist, an exemplary role model, and a hero to a generation of kids.

Christopher Reeve has died.

It’s a sad day indeed.

Superman is gone and I have to admit the kid in me is a little crushed.

He was such a determined, positive, driven person I REALLY thought he’d walk again.

And somehow I’m sure if he’d lived he would have.