Helpful: Gift idea

For me to poop on.

Just heard

Phil is in Kuwait!

Helpful: Go see it!

Striding Lion's latest show got picked for Critic's Choice in the Chicago Reader this week! The final shows are this Thursday and Friday. Prepare to be amazed!

Very interesting - new music format

Thanks for the link, Drew.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/qwantz/28155.html
Here's an easy one:

Base material of sweet dreams:
*this


To do:
*disagree?

Itinerary:
*travel
---*world
---*seven seas

Agenda of "Everybody" and "Them":
*Use you
*Get used by you
*Abuse you
*Be abused

What to do with your head:
*Keep up
*Hold up
*do both while movin' on

Happy Easter

Good Friday was a great service -- very poignant, especially with Mom in town to share the time. I really love our church. That's weird to say, but what the hell. It's the night before Easter. There was good basketball on tonight, I'm listening to Ron Sexsmith, drinking wine, blogging, and the kick-ass Stratta I made for brunch tomorrow is tha bomb. Life is friggin great.

Cease and Desist

Under advice of counsel (who I last saw at a Halloween party dressed as a beast of pure evil,) I will no longer be writing on this weblog about any "games of chance," "poker games for money," or other "activities contrary to Illinois State Law" which may be committed in my presence. This will help me in my political campaigns, and make the job of my future campaign press secretary (Scott or Josh, whoever will work for less) much easier, or so I am told. That is all.

Where have you been?

This is my map.

Long time

Regular blogging has been out of the question this week. Too much going on taking up my time, no really interesting political stuff. I did go to see the latest Striding Lion show last night with a few friends and Cindy and Mom. It is a trippy show, to say the least. Inspired by Frank Zappa. Need I say more. But these guys continue to blow me away with their talent for music and dance.

Good Friday service tonight, having people over for Easter Sunday, maybe some really good news next week, a new poker league starts Wednesday, a community meeting that same Wednesday, Dad's in town next Saturday, Final Four -- hello!, the <"http://www.shamrockshuffle.com">Shamrock Shuffle next Sunday, and so on and so on.

By the way, I should mention that I am officially over snow.

I+H: Last update from Iraq

Phil wrote this about three weeks ago. Keep him in mind these next couple of weeks:

The final month of my stay in Iraq is here. This time next month I will be chilling in California
and not long after that I will be back home in Chicago. I was delighted when I heard that we would be leaving Iraq almost a month earlier than expected.

It has been a roller coaster ride since the last time I wrote. The elections came and went. All the forces over here put in a lot of work to make them a success. MST 1 stopped a mortar team bent on shelling the polling place in Lusifiyah. After a month of relatively nothing happening catching those guys really made us feel great.

After the elections we were sent on a five-day mission guarding a bridge that crosses the Euphrates. Except for the low, supersonic flyby of an F14 (if you ever have a chance to be 100 feet under a sonic boom, I highly recommend it!) it was pretty boring. However, on our way home an IED did hit us. That was one of the 11 that were set off that day on our battalion. It was the worse day for IED's since we have been here with one leading to a KIA.

In general I would say the IED activity is picking up a bit. I guess some people are pissed the elections went off as well as they did. We have also seen a bit more indirect fire attacks on the base too. But don't worry; I will remain vigilant until I get on the plane out of here.

That being said, I really am looking forward to seeing all of you soon.
Thanks for all your support, I don't know how I would have made it this far without it.
This will probably be the last email from Iraq.

Until next time,
Phil.

I+H: Limerick in 4 minutes or less

There once was a man from Milan
Who ate liverwurst, croissants and flan;
To his sweetheart, Tamair,
He said, "I declare,
Hold this prawn while I visit the John."

Sunday naps

Aren't they great?

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Interesting: High roller

I cleaned up Monday in my poker league, and man do I have the bug. As I've mentioned before, we play two one-hour tournaments, recording the chip totals at the end of each round. I was up each round -- a first for me.

After the official game, about 8 of us stayed behind to play another tournament, and I ended up winning the whole thing. I've never pulled starting hands like that all in one night: AA twice, KK, AKsuit, AQ, JJ twice, TT, 99 - I was rolling. But not only that, I played aggressively, check-raised enough to really scare people, pulled a kickass bluff and I saw straight through another guy's bluff and took all his chips. I think it makes up for the first 4 weeks of losing...

So I think I might be in for another 8 weeks. Anyone else with me?

Interesting: Broken record

Go to this SxSW link and download 715 free mp3s. BitTorrent lets you do it (relatively) quickly. If you have Itunes, you can just drag the unzipped files right onto the Itunes Library, and voila. I basically increased our music collection by 15% in one night.

Interesting: Shred it!

Lots and lots of tires, DVD's, diapers, and car bumpers were hurt in the making of these videos.

Wired News: SXSW's Torrent of Free Tunes

Yet again, I will miss South by Southwest this year. Or will I?

For Indigo

Fill in the punchline...

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Interesting: Who's on First?

Giggle.

Fiesta!

I'll write more about it next week, but today was a pretty sweet day. And it ends with beer!

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Hey smarty pants writer and editor types

Take the test.

Helpful: February Book reviews

When I say "unfinished" I mean "This book sucked so I got rid of it." Soul Prints is written by a Kabbalist rabbi, and it's out-of-this-world hokey. The Headhunter's Edge is just an ego pump from some headhunter guy. How to find the best talent? Be like me: have Jack Welsh, Steve Jobs, etc. on your speed dial and build great relationships with them. Easy enough right?

The Nick Hornby book was what inspired me to chart my book reading in the first place, so that I highly recommended, of course. I couldn't put it down. I had only read How to be Good before this month, and I think I'll be looking for High Fidelity sometime soon.

Bowling Alone has been on my wishlist for about 3 years, and I finally picked it up at the Lincoln Park library. Super book. A friend recently called me a "joiner," and after reading this book, I take it as a compliment. Putnam shows (through gobs and gobs of research) that part of the reason our communities are weakening is that no one seems to join clubs, host dinner parties, play in bowling leagues, etc. anymore. TV and suburban sprawl seem to be the biggest factors. This is great, because now I can say that hosting a poker game is not gambling, per se, but doing my civic duty. Fantastic.

Speaking of poker, Phil Helmuth is a tool. He's annoying to watch, must be annoying to play with, and his book is ridiculous. The cover actually refers to him as "The World's Greatest Poker Player." The introduction politely asks the reader not to try all of the fantastic tips from Phil at one time, and not to be frustrated if you don't grasp them all right away. What a clown. The bulk of his advice? Don't play bad hands. And don't bluff, especially if you're playing against Phil. That makes him really mad. Dork.

Risk was a book someone sent Cindy to review. The message: Be afraid of cigarettes, fatty food and car accidents. Cellphone radiation...not so much.

Phew, that was kind of fun. Next month I'll probably put links in for each one, but oh well.

Helpful: Arrested Development quotes

Just so everyone will know what the heck Scott and I keep blathering about, here's where you can find great pick-up lines like:

Tobias: Excuse me, do these effectively hide my thunder?