f2f2s |

The Microsoft Office Beta is definitely worth getting you don’t already have Office on your computer. Actually, I think that you can install it side-by-side with a current version of Office, so you might even want to try that. The only problem I’m having is that the Word defaults are a little screwy (Calibri 11 font, after paragraph 10px space) and I haven’t played around with it enough to try and change the settings yet. Also, the documents save as a new file type with an ‘x’ on the end (i.e. Word is a .docx, Excel is a .xlsx, etc) but they can be easily be saved in Office 97-2003 format if that’s what you want.

Here are a few shots of the 2 different color schemes that come loaded on it. First, the Windows Vista Grey (that’s the new operating system coming out hopefully this fall) and then the Windows XP Blue. Click either for a bigger version. Yeah, the images are huge, sorry.

You’ll notice that there are no menus at the top of the program anymore. Rather, there are tabs with all the options listed as clickable elements. This is a really nice feature that I’m liking so far. It’s a little weird to get used to, and seems to slow my computer a bit when I click on a tab for the first time, maybe that’s just my 512MB RAM though. After clicking it once, all subsequent clicks are near instant.

Finally, here’s another video of some outstanding soccer goals to keep you interested about the World Cup. These are the top 50 Premiership goals as decided by some guy in England. I think it’s a pretty solid collection with no given order, and a great soundtrack. Make sure to check out the goals starting around times 1:40, 3:10 and 3:53.

Top 50 Premiership Goals

-10 buyins last 4-5k hands. That’s fun. At least one of those was really really tilty. I wish to Christ people would stop betting into me from the blinds after calling my preflop raise. Or, I wish I would actually hit a hand when they did do that.

US soccer. Bleh. Donovan played like crap. Beasley played like crap. Boca made one of the worst decisions I’ve seen. Just a lot of crap. Also, Bruce Arena did a great job not playing Eddie Johnson, even though he was 98% of our offensive energy. And the whole 4-5-1 formation. Ugh. Please let us develop an offensive game plan that doesn’t involve only set pieces and the way-too-slow counter attack in the near future.

Finally, I’ve loved OpenOffice for quite some time now, but I just found out that Microsoft released the Beta for Office 2007. If you have any kind of microsoft ID (hotmail is the most likely) then you can go here and download it as well. I’m going to play around with it shortly after it finishes downloading, and hopefully will be able to put up some kind of review one of these days.

Hooray for SopCast and CCTV5!! You can find the link to run in SopCast on WorldCupWatcher.
This is making optimization a hell of a lot cooler. Game about to come on is France/Switzerland, and outside of any real affection/disdain for either country, I’ve decided to pull for France.

Also, I didn’t come close to 5k hands like I wanted to. Oh well.

Ok, so, I know I never go through with what I say I’m going to do, but this time, I’m at least making an effort.  I’m certainly behind pace, as you can see from the stats below, but this is still the most hands I’ve played in a while, as sad as that sounds.  Anyway, click on the picture to see it so that it’s actually readable.  I know, I play way too few hands, but I’m working on it.  I used to be a bit looser in NL (18/7ish) but I’ve started to tighten up in early position, and have yet to counteract that by playing as loose as I need to in late position.  Whatever, it’ll get there.

Thankfully, I’ve managed to make money along the way, which makes any quest a good bit easier.

Also, since I haven’t posted any hands in like, forever, here are 3 hands I played today, all of which I think I played pretty well, and got a little lucky on.

UTG+1 ($5.60)
UTG+2 ($34.38)
MP1 ($26.15)
MP2 ($35.19)
MP3 ($25)
CO ($35.85)
Button ($0)
SB ($27.41)
Hero ($25)
UTG ($42.70)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 9.
SB posts a blind of $0.10.
4 folds, MP2 raises to $0.5, 1 fold, CO calls $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25.

Flop: ($1.60) K, 5, 7 (4 players)
Hero bets $1, MP2 folds, CO raises to $8, Hero calls $23.50 (All-In), CO calls $16.50.

Turn: ($50.60) T (3 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($50.60) A (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $50.60

CO shows [ 7c, 5d ] two pairs, sevens and fives.
Hero shows shows [ 8s, 9s ] a flush, ace high.

UTG ($30.56)
MP1 ($164.70)
MP2 ($30.90)
CO ($10.90)
Button ($26.95)
SB ($16.90)
Hero ($29.15)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T, 3.
SB posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG calls $0.25, MP1 raises to $0.5, 1 fold, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, SB (poster) calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.25, UTG calls $0.25.

Flop: ($3) 5, A, 4 (6 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, UTG calls $2, MP1 folds, CO calls $2, Button raises to $9, SB folds, Hero calls $26.65 (All-In), UTG folds, CO calls $8.40 (All-In), Button calls $17.45 (All-In).

Turn: ($70.50) 6 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($70.50) 7 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Final Pot: $70.50

CO shows [ 4c, Ac ] two pairs, aces and fours.
Button shows [ 5c, 5h ] three of a kind, fives.
Hero shows [ Ts, 3s ] a straight, three to seven.

MP1 ($31.60)
MP2 ($19.73)
CO ($22.70)
Button ($20.58)
SB ($31.88)
Hero ($58.40)
UTG ($30.55)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q.
SB posts a blind of $0.10.
2 folds, MP2 calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, SB (poster) completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.25) A, 6, 5 (5 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.2, MP2 folds, CO folds, Button calls $1.20, SB folds.

Turn: ($3.65) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3, Hero calls $3.

River: ($9.65) A (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $8, Hero raises to $17, Button calls $8.13 (All-In).

Final Pot: $42.78

Button shows [ Ah, Jd ] three of a kind, aces
Hero shows [ Ac, Qh ] three of a kind, aces, queen kicker

So we’ll start with something easy: 5k hands by Sunday night.  Maybe this will get me back into the playing mindset, since I haven’t been doing much of that lately.  As usual, all hands will be my ridiculously low stakes, but, thanks the the federal government, I will soon have plenty of student loan money to gamble away.  Bankroll++

As for classes, nothing major there.  87 on the first Psyc test, and a 102 average on the homework/in class assingments gives me a 96 overall in there right now.  I took my first optimization test today, and expect to get a 95+ on it, in a class full of retards.  So that’s good news.  My first test, and first attended class for that matter, in Engineering Economy comes tomorrow.  However, that class is supposed to be a joke, and the videos I’ve watched for it so far seem to echo that.

Finally, I have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow to do another check-up on my blood pressure.  Since I got bumped up to 5mg of Altace once a day, my numbers have varied like so:
5/13: 143/85
5/14: 141/75
5/15: 135/75
5/16: 139/77
5/17: 126/84
5/19: 128/85
5/21: 134/81
5/22: 133/79
5/27: 135/78
5/29: 130/72
5/31: 137/68
6/01: 129/73
6/04: 139/75
6/08: 133/70

So Lord knows how much it’s really working.  I really don’t want to increase to 10mg though, so hopefully the doctors will be satisfied with 130/70 considering it used to be 160/90.

Hodge has already beat off to this story so many times….

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said.

Thomas Autry, who authorities said will not be charged, had been walking home from his job waiting tables Monday night when four people got out of a car and chased him, Atlanta police detective Danny Stephens said.

One of the attackers had a shotgun and another had a pistol, Stephens said.

The suspects caught up with Autry, who yelled for help and pulled a knife out of his backpack. He kicked the shotgun out of one of the attacker’s hands and stabbed both a 17-year-old girl who jumped on him and a man who also attacked him.

The suspects fled in their car but police found them later at a hospital where the girl was pronounced dead. The man stabbed in the incident was in critical condition, Stephens said.

Autry’s attackers will face robbery and aggravated assault charges and are suspected in other robberies over the past week, Stephen said.

Stephens credited Autry’s military training with helping him fend off the group.

“I would say he had to do what he had to do to stop the threat,” Stephens said. “You can tell his training kicked in and he knew what to do.”

Autry, 36, suffered a cut to his hand and a bruise on his chest, Stephens said.